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 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 
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 THE GIFT OF 
 
 
 iienirg IB. Sage 
 
 
 1891 
 
 
 4./''.2/3.7 
 
 -^i 
 
Date Due 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029503921 
 
Cornell University Library 
 Z278 .P98 1897 
 
 Authors and P"''''**'^''^f,,,?||||y]JK|'|||j|||iifii'^^ 
 
 3 1924 029 503 921 
 olin 
 
Authors and Publishers 
 
 A Manual of Suggestions 
 for Beginners in Literature 
 
 Comprising a Descri^tibn o* Publisljng Methods 
 and Arrangements, Directions for the Prepara- 
 tion of MSB. for the Press, Explanations of the 
 Details of Book-Manufacturing, Instructions for 
 Proof-Reading, Specimens of Typography, the 
 Text of the United States Copyright Law and 
 Information Concerning International Copy- 
 rights, Together with General Hints for Authors 
 
 By 
 G. H. P'iand J. B. P. .- 
 
 Seventh Edition 
 Rewritten, with Additional Material 
 
 Cras scribet qui nunquam scripsit, 
 Quique scripsit cras scribet. 
 
 The Spectator CLondon) 
 
 in parody of the " Pervigilium Veneris.' 
 
 G. P. Putnam's Sons. New York: 27 and 29 
 West Twenty-third Street. London : 24 Bed- 
 ford Street, Strand, f ^e ^^nitliti&otbr ^ress. 1897 
 
 t: 
 
h'\C>JtT>^ 
 
 Copyright, 1897 
 
 BY 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 
 
 XTbe iRniclier&oclier press, flew 2t;orft 
 
preface to tbe Seventb EMtfon. 
 
 Ill 
 
 THE first edition of this manual was pub- 
 lished in 1883. There has been for the 
 book such continued demand as to indicate . 
 that the information and suggestions presented 
 have been found of service or of interest not 
 only to the "beginners in literature," to whom 
 the volume was more particularly addressed, 
 but to some of the older members of the liter- 
 ary guild, and possibly also to that evanescent 
 individual known as "the general reader." 
 There seems to be some special fascination for 
 a considerable proportion of the community, 
 in matters connected with the production of 
 literature, and even with the methods of the 
 manufacture and distribution of books; and 
 the large measure of interest shown by suc- 
 cessive generations in the reminiscences of 
 authors, and in the details of their work, in- 
 dicates that the quidquid agunt scriptores is felt 
 to possess a greater general importance than 
 attaches to the doings of workers in other di- 
 visions of human activity. It can only be on 
 
 Ipteface 
 
a^retace to tbe Seventb E&ition 
 
 tteface some such ground that authors have so fre- 
 quently felt justified in taking the public into 
 their confidence concerning the record of their 
 business relations, and in regard generally to 
 their disappointments, perplexities, or irrita- 
 tions, details which other classes of workers 
 prefer, as a rule, to consider as matters personal 
 to themselves and to their business agents. 
 
 The present volume undertakes to present, 
 in convenient form for reference, information 
 concerning the several methods of publishing 
 arrangements, the various matters to be con- 
 sidered, after the publishing arrangement has 
 been completed, in putting the book through 
 the press, and the measures adopted, after the 
 book has been put into print, in finding sale or 
 in trying to find sale for it. 
 
 In reshaping the material for this revised edi- 
 tion, attention has been given to certain phases 
 of literary and publishing methods which have 
 come into existence, or which have come into 
 increased importance, since the manual was 
 first issued, fourteen years ago, such as the 
 development of authors' societies, and the use 
 of literary agencies and "syndicates." 
 
 I ask consideration also for the plan I have 
 outlined for the instituting of Literary Courts 
 or Boards of Arbitration to which could be 
 entrusted the determination of issues arising 
 between authors and publishers, authors and 
 authors, and publishers and publishers. 
 
IPreface to tbe Seventb Ebition 
 
 It is undoubtedly the case that in a very large etrfsce 
 proportion of the instances in which literary 
 workers believe themselves to have had cause 
 for complaint or for dissatisfaction, the diffi- 
 culty has been due to misapprehensions or to 
 lack of information in regard to the conditions 
 and necessary limitations of the business of 
 making and of selling books, and in regard to 
 the actual rights and the actual obligations of 
 authors. 
 
 If, by the presentation of information not 
 heretofore conveniently accessible, or through 
 the explanation of conditions which are fre- 
 quently misunderstood, this manual may prove 
 of any service in lessening misapprehensions, 
 and in furthering harmony of relation between 
 the authors and their business agents and re- 
 presentatives, the publishers, the purpose of its 
 publication will have beeh accomplished. 
 
 G. H. P. 
 
 New York, March, i8py. 
 

 vii 
 
 ^m^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 Contents 
 
 
 
 PART I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 I. — Introductory .... 
 
 I 
 
 aontents 
 
 II. — Publishing Arrangements . 
 
 36 
 
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED AT THE RISK AND EXPENSE 
 
 
 
 OF THE PUBLISHER. 
 
 
 
 a. The Purchase of Copyright . 
 
 39 
 
 
 b. The Royalty System 
 
 44 
 
 
 c. Payments in Lieu of Royalties 
 
 56 
 
 
 d. The Half-Profit System . 
 
 57 
 
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED FOR THE ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 
 
 AUTHOR, i.e., AT THE AUTHOR'S RISK 
 
 
 
 AND EXPENSE, OR IN WHICH HE ASSUMES 
 
 
 
 A PORTION OF THE INVESTMENT. 
 
 
 
 a. The Author Bears the Entire 
 
 
 
 Expense .... 
 
 74 
 
 
 b. Author's Ownership of Plates 
 
 
 
 - and of Copyright 
 
 79 
 
 
 Summary 
 
 82 
 
 
viii 
 
 Contents 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Contenta 
 
 PUBLISHING ARRANGEMENTS FOR PRODUC- 
 TIONS FIRST PRINTED IN PERIODICALS 
 
 
 
 OR CYCLOP/EDIAS .... 
 
 89 
 
 
 III. — Obligations under the Publishing 
 
 
 
 Agreement 
 
 98 
 
 
 IV. — The Literary Agent . 
 
 124 
 
 
 V. — Authors' Associations 
 
 155 
 
 
 VI. — Advertising .... 
 
 162 
 
 
 VII. — General Considerations . 
 
 185 
 
 
 VIII. — On Securing Copyright 
 
 203 
 
 
 I. The Law of Copyright in the 
 
 
 
 United States 
 
 203 
 
 
 II. Analysis of the Provisions o1 
 
 r 
 
 
 the Copyright Law of 189 1 . 
 
 217 
 
 
 General Suggestions . 
 
 227 
 
 
 PART II. 
 
 
 
 The Making of Books .... 
 
 233 
 
 
 The Preparation of the Manuscript 
 
 235 
 
 
 Specimens of Type 
 
 240 
 
 
 Measuring Type . 
 
 
 245 
 
 
 Composition 
 
 
 246 
 
 
 Office Proof 
 
 
 247 
 
 
 Author's Proof . 
 
 
 247 
 
 
 Corrections of the Press 
 
 
 255 
 
 
 Electrotyping 
 
 
 257 
 
 
 Presswork . 
 
 
 257 
 
 
 Making Ready . 
 
 
 261 
 
Contents Jx 
 
 Bookbinding 263 contents 
 
 Library Bindings . . .271 
 
 Illustrations 275 
 
 Steel-Plate Engraving and Print- 
 ing 275 
 
 Etchings and Photogravures . 276 
 Wood-Cuts . . . -277 
 
 Photo-Engraving . . . 279 
 The Heliotype, or Gelatine, Process 281 
 
PART I. 
 
 Zbc IRelations ot Hutbors anD 
 pubUsbers 
 
 publisbing /Detbo&s an& arrangements 
 
 + 
 
 ®n Securing Copsrigbt 
 
 By G. H. p. 
 
Authors and Publishers 
 
 UntroOuctoru 
 
 IT has been a popular assumption that be- 
 tween authors and publishers little sym- 
 pathy existed ; and from the very beginnings 
 of literature there has been a more or less 
 continuous stream of complaints from authors 
 who have felt themselves aggrieved, on one 
 ground or another, against the men through 
 whom their productions have been brought 
 before the public. These authors have, in 
 not a few cases, convinced themselves, or at 
 least have endeavored to convince others, that 
 if they failed to receive from the public what 
 in their opinion was an adequate return for 
 their productions, such failure was charge- 
 able not to any want of substantial merit in 
 their work, but to the lack of effective busi- 
 ness service on the part of the publishers, or 
 to the tendency of the latter to absorb for 
 themselves an undue proportion of the re- 
 ceipts. 
 
 Ube Sine 
 Ipubltebecg 
 
Hutbors anO ipublisbera 
 
 Orfevancu 
 of Butbore 
 
 The Story of Campbell, at a literary dinner, 
 proposing the health of Napoleon, because he 
 once shot a publisher, ' has often been quoted 
 as a fair expression of the feelings of literary 
 workers, and if there is any truth in the pict- 
 ure which represents the publisher as a sort 
 of ogre, whose den is strewn with the bones 
 of authors, and who quaffs his wine out of 
 their skulls, this assumption is certainly natu- 
 ral enough, as between the eater and the 
 eaten there can be little love lost. It must be 
 admitted that the reminiscences of authors do 
 contain not a few instances which serve to 
 justify this vulgar impression as to the pirati- 
 cal and profit-absorbing tendencies of publish- 
 ers. The complaints begin as early as the 
 time of Martial, who was a most persistent 
 grumbler. He indulged in the luxury of hav- 
 ing not less than four publishers at one time, 
 and took occasion to include invectives against 
 them all in satires or epigrams which the pub- 
 lishers obligingly continued to publish for him. 
 Horace, too, complained that his publishers, 
 the Sosii, took to themselves the gold pro- 
 duced by his writings, leaving for "the au- 
 thor's reward only fame in distant lands and 
 with posterity," and even Cicero was not 
 
 'Johann Philipp Palm, of Nuremberg, shot in 1806 for 
 publishing a pamphlet against the rule of the French in 
 Germany. 
 
■ffntrofeuctors 
 
 always ready to be satisfied with the reports 
 of his valued friend and prince of publishers, 
 Atticus. In modern literary history, the names 
 of Milton, Johnson, Goldsmith, Voltaire, Bal- 
 zac, Heine, Byron, the elder Disraeli, and 
 many others will at once recur to mind as 
 having left, in their books or in their corre- 
 spondence, more or less acerbitous criticisms 
 of their publishers. And, to bring the record 
 down to our own days, that charming writer 
 and true-hearted humanitarian, Walter Besant, 
 while speaking of his own business relations 
 as being entirely satisfactory, has been taking 
 up the cudgel most vigorously on behalf of 
 the oppressed class of literary workers, and 
 has shown eloquently, if not quite convinc- 
 ingly, that in the publishing business as now 
 carried on there is no risk, and that the sub- 
 stantial profits from the production of litera- 
 ture are in great part absorbed by the grasping 
 publishers. 
 
 Such a long series of complaints from liter- 
 ary workers of many generations constitutes 
 on its face rather a serious indictment against 
 the fair dealing of publishers, but before 
 deciding that a good case has been made out, 
 one or two considerations are entitled to at- 
 tention. It is proper to remember, in the 
 first place, that nearly all the narratives of the 
 differences that have arisen between authors 
 and publishers have come to us in ex parte 
 
 Orievances 
 ot Butbors 
 
Hutbors an& ipublisbers 
 
 /Bitigating 
 (Ionel&eta« 
 tiong 
 
 Statements. In the exceptional instances in 
 which the rejoinder of the publisher is placed 
 on record, a very different aspect is usually 
 given to the case. Secondly, these ex parte 
 opinions come to us from members of a genus 
 irritabile, whose perceptions of the facts and 
 equities of business transactions must in any 
 case be taken with much allowance, and of 
 whom some at least, such as Voltaire, Balzac, 
 Heine, and others, can hardly be trusted to tell 
 straight stories of matters in which thgir own 
 vanity or interest was involved. It is further 
 to be remembered that, while the transactions 
 between authors and publishers would now 
 aggregate a very considerable number (equal, 
 of course, to the total number of books pub- 
 lished), the public has its attention called to 
 those instances only in which the authors 
 have imagined themselves to have ground for 
 complaint or texts or pretexts for satire. In 
 reading about these, it is easy to forget how 
 very inconsiderable a proportion they must 
 bear to the long list of transactions concerning 
 which the authors had no criticisms to make, 
 whether well founded or otherwise. The 
 hundreds of thousands of cases in which the 
 authors have, through the successful co-opera- 
 tion of their publishers, received from the 
 public a satisfactory return for their labors, 
 give no text for satirical chapters in fiction, no 
 themes for fierce onslaughts in reminiscences ; 
 
Untro&uctors 
 
 they remain naturally and of necessity uncom- 
 memorated. 
 
 And, finally, it is proper to remember that 
 publishers are the only class of business men 
 whose sins, real or imaginary, come into 
 literature. Their clients have the ear of the 
 public and sometimes of posterity, and are 
 ready to assume that the details of their 
 personal concerns and grievances are as in- 
 teresting to their readers as they may have 
 been important to themselves. If the com- 
 plaints against lawyers, bankers, physicians, 
 and merchants, on the part of their respective 
 clients, were in like manner from time to time 
 put into literary form, the misdeeds of pub- 
 lishers would, in comparison, sink into abso- 
 lute insignificance. It would, of course, be 
 absurd to take the ground that there have 
 been no misdeeds on the part of the pub- 
 lishers. I simply contend that, so far as we 
 can judge from the trustworthy evidence, the 
 balance of any "misdeed account" between 
 themselves and their authors would not be 
 against the publishers ; and, more specifically, 
 that the authors have not, as a whole, paid for 
 the service of getting their works before the 
 public a larger proportion of the proceeds of 
 literature than was needed for the organiza- 
 tion and maintenance of the skilled machinery 
 requisite. 
 
 It may further be suggested that, as litera- 
 
 TCbe date 
 foe tbe 
 Elefence 
 
Hutbors anD pubUsbers 
 
 HConu 
 
 mecdal 
 
 Status tot 
 
 literature 
 
 ture has developed in commercial importance 
 and has established its commercial status, the 
 relations of authors and publishers have in 
 various respects undergone material modifica- 
 tions; so that the occurrences which gave rise 
 to certain bitter passages in authors' reminis- 
 cences of a century back, would under the 
 conditions of to-day be impossible. Grub 
 Street exists no more, and with Grub Street 
 have disappeared the patron and the publisher 
 of old-time literary history and literary hatred. 
 The last appearance in literature of the pub- 
 lisher of the Grub Street period occurs, 1 be- 
 lieve, in Pendennis, where Warrington and 
 young Pen are described as going down to 
 Fleet Street to sell Pen's poem, and Pen be- 
 comes acquainted with the manner in which 
 the rivals of the publishing fraternity, Bungay 
 and Bacon, bully on the one hand their ill- 
 paid hacks, while ever ready on the other to 
 toady to their aristocratic clients. This picture 
 in Pendennis, by the way, could not have 
 been given as a personal experience, for it is 
 on record that Thackeray's long-continued 
 personal relations with his own publishers 
 (Smith and Elder) were both pleasant and 
 profitable. 
 
 It is certainly the case to-day that authors 
 who can produce wares possessing commer- 
 cial value, find little difficulty in securing for 
 them such value. Publishers are always on 
 
■ffntro&uctorg 
 
 the lookout for real material, that is, for mate- 
 rial possessing that indescribable quality which 
 secures popular appreciation, and they can be 
 trusted, on the ground of their competition 
 with each other, if for no other reason, to pay 
 for such material its market value. Indeed, it 
 happens frequently enough from season to 
 season that, in the ardor of competition and 
 with some undue optimism in regard to the 
 co-operation of the book-buying public, pub- 
 lishers are tempted to pay for literary produc- 
 tions, in the shape of royalties, of guaranteed 
 advances, or of a combination of both, amounts 
 considerably in excess of the sums which can 
 actually be secured from the sales of the books. 
 The amounts of such deficiencies must, of 
 course, proportionately reduce the capital 
 available for future literary investments, and 
 must also lessen the optimism of the publishers 
 in regard to similar ventures for succeeding 
 seasons. 
 
 It may on the whole safely be concluded 
 that it is chiefly the feebler sort of authors 
 who make any attempt to keep up the 
 "ogre" theory or to assume that publisher 
 and "bulldozer" are synonymous terms. 
 The fledgling, whose first venture has been 
 entered upon with large expectations, may be 
 ready to imagine that the profits on which he 
 had fondly calculated, and which he has failed 
 to realize, have been absorbed by the pub- 
 
 JDaterlal 
 wftb /Bars 
 liet Value 
 Blwava in 
 fi>cman& 
 
Htttbors an& publisbers 
 
 ZbCSwcn* 
 
 ings of 
 
 liteiats 
 
 fcobucecs 
 
 Semanti, 
 Supply, 
 ant Coma 
 petition 
 
 Ushers. The author who has experience in 
 literature and knowledge of business is, how- 
 ever, as a rule, ready to recognize that, while 
 in certain undertakings the results may be un- 
 satisfactory or may bring "inequities " for one 
 party or the other, the series of transactions 
 between authors and publishers must, as an 
 entirety, be regulated by the same inexorable 
 laws of supply and demand, and under the 
 same pressure of competition, which control 
 all buying and selling. The interests of au- 
 thors and publishers are, like those of all pro- 
 ducers and distributers, practically identical. 
 
 A noteworthy instance in literary history, 
 the account of which as first given to the 
 world by the author requires to be completed 
 and corrected by the fuller record from the 
 side of the publisher, is that of the relations of 
 Sir Walter Scott with Archibald Constable. 
 The readers of Lockhart's Life of Scott are 
 left with the impression that the financial ruin 
 of the great author was principally due to the 
 mismanagement of his business interests by 
 the publisher Constable, and that if Scott 
 could have secured the full returns from his 
 magnificent literary properties, returns which 
 were, in fact, squandered in Constable's spec- 
 ulations, his last years would not have been 
 harassed with financial cares and shadowed 
 by overwork. When, however, we have 
 placed before us, in the Memoirs of Con- 
 
■ffntro&uctorg 
 
 stable, the full statement of his transactions 
 with Scott, we find that, during nearly the 
 whole course of his relations, the author's un- 
 bounded optimism had led him to make 
 drafts upon profits not yet earned and even to 
 call for large advances against books still to be 
 written ; so that at the time of Constable's 
 failure, Scott was actually in debt to his 
 publisher ;^i 0,000, representing moneys ad- 
 vanced upon manuscripts still to be delivered 
 and for the most part not even written. It 
 seems probable that this sum would have 
 been adequate to save the publishing firm 
 from failure, a failure which was said to have 
 been the chief cause of Constable's death a 
 year later. Scott's magnificent struggle 
 through the later years of his life to redeem 
 all his business obligations, including not only 
 the repayment to Constable's creditors of the 
 ;^io,ooo, but also the settlement of the still 
 larger sums for which he was liable as partner 
 in the printing concern of his old school-friend 
 Ballantyne, may well have been intensified by 
 his regrets for the optimistic heedlessness 
 which assuredly had had not a little to do 
 in bringing about the ruin and death of his 
 publisher. 
 
 The recently issued Memoirs of John Mur- 
 ray (the second) give not a few instances of 
 serious losses incurred by the publisher from 
 works from which, according to the belief of 
 
 Scott 
 Conetable 
 
10 
 
 Hutbors an& pu&lisbers 
 
 Autcai 
 anb bit 
 Butbor* 
 
 the authors, he had, notwithstanding liberal 
 payments for the copyrights, secured the larger 
 share of the profits. It is interesting to note 
 in these volumes the various little side-lights 
 which are thrown upon some of the well- 
 known names of literature, like Moore, the 
 Disraelis, Coleridge, and others, who imposed 
 not a little on the trusting liberality of the 
 great publisher, and who are shown to have 
 been often ready to take money without any 
 adequate quid pro quo or even without any 
 quid pro quo at all. The impression is also 
 left throughout the Memoirs that they are, as 
 an Hibernian might say, " full of kindly reti- 
 cences," and that if the note-books of Murray 
 had been transcribed more fully, a much more 
 considerable balance would have been shown 
 to have been due from the literary workers to 
 their business agent for unprofitable work, 
 for overpaid work, and for work paid for but 
 never delivered. 
 
 Washington Irving was one of the kindest of 
 men as also one of the most modest and least 
 self-asserting of authors. It is evident, how- 
 ever, from Murray's Memoirs that Irving was 
 led (apparently, according to his own letters, 
 " by the counsel of over-zealous friends ") to 
 place too high an estimate upon the com- 
 mercial value of some of the earlier of his 
 writings, and that Murray, having persuaded 
 himself to accept the author's estimate, be- 
 
■ffntroOuctors 
 
 came a heavy loser through the publication of 
 some of Irving's most famous books. Irving's 
 later arrangement with his American pub- 
 lisher, the late George P. Putnam, under which 
 the publisher, in place of "speculating" in the 
 volumes by paying at guesswork advance 
 prices for their copyrights, paid a royalty on 
 the copies actually sold, proved much more 
 satisfactory for both author and publisher, and 
 produced for the author and his heirs a sub- 
 stantial income extending over thirty years. 
 
 The list of Memoirs of publishers is at best 
 but inconsiderable. In these Memoirs it can, 
 I think, be said that stress has uniformly been 
 laid upon the pleasanter phases of the relations 
 between the publishers and their clients, while 
 the writers have, as a rule, not thought it worth 
 while to bring into literature or before the 
 public the publishers' record of literary con- 
 tracts unfulfilled or of publishers' confidences 
 imposed upon, a record which might assuredly 
 have been made a long one. 
 
 It is possible to find instances of authors 
 who are conscious that the judgments of their 
 own class concerning business matters are not 
 always to be trusted and who have them- 
 selves held favorable opinions of the publish- 
 ing fraternity. Their statements can, of 
 course, not be considered as disproving, or 
 even as disposing of, the conclusions of other 
 authors whose personal experiences have been 
 
 HBlbat 
 
 publtebers 
 
 Bitot 
 
 tbe<r 
 
 ButbocE 
 
12 
 
 Eutbors an5 pubUsbers 
 
 feoweUe 
 
 on 
 
 publfsbers 
 
 an& 
 
 Kutbocs 
 
 less fortunate or whose general theories con- 
 cerning (publishing) human nature are more 
 pessimistic. A man who has a grievance or 
 who believes in the existence of a grievance is 
 not answered by being confronted by another 
 man (even of the same class) who has none. 
 It may, nevertheless, be worth while, as one 
 phase of the general subject of the relations of 
 authors and publishers, to make one or two 
 citations from these optimistic writers. 
 
 W. D. Howells, in a paper on "The Man, 
 of Letters as a Man of Business," writes as 
 follows : 
 
 "There is always something disappointing 
 in the accounts of publishers, which is, I fancy, 
 because authors are strangely constituted, ra- 
 ther than because publishers are so. 
 
 " No, we literary men must learn, no matter 
 how we boast ourselves in business, that the 
 distress we feel from our publishers' accounts 
 is simply idiopathic ; and 1 for one wish to 
 bear my witness to the constant good faith 
 and uprightness of publishers. It is supposed 
 that because they have the affair altogether in 
 their hands they are apt to take advantage in 
 it ; but this does not follow, and as a matter 
 of fact they have the affair no more in their 
 own hands than any other business man with 
 whom you have an open account. There is 
 nothing to prevent you from looking at their 
 books, except your own innermost belief and 
 
Untro&uctor^ 
 
 13 
 
 fear that their books are correct, and that your 
 literature has brought you so little because it 
 has sold so little. 
 
 "The author is not to blame for his super- 
 ficial delusion to the contrary, especially if he 
 has written a book that has set everyone talk- 
 ing, because it is of vital interest. It may be 
 of a vital interest, without being at all the kind 
 of book people want to buy ; it may be the 
 kind of book that they are content to know at 
 second hand ; there are such fatal books ; but 
 hearing so much and reading so much about 
 it, the author cannot help hoping that it has 
 sold much more than the publisher says. The 
 publisher is undoubtedly honest, however, and 
 the author had better put away the comfort- 
 ing question of his integrity. 
 
 "The English writers seem largely to sus- 
 pect their publishers (I cannot say with how 
 much reason, for my English publisher is 
 Scotch, and 1 should be glad to be so true a 
 man as I think him) ; but 1 believe that 
 American authors, when not flown with flat- 
 tering reviews, as largely trust theirs. Of 
 course there are rogues in every walk of life. 
 1 will not say that I ever personally met them 
 in the flowery paths of literature, but I have 
 heard of other people meeting them there, 
 just as I have heard of people seeing ghosts, 
 and I have to believe in both the rogues and 
 the ghosts, without the witness of my own 
 
 1boweIl6 
 
 on 
 Ipubltebere 
 
 ant) 
 Butbore 
 
14 
 
 autbors an& publisbers 
 
 IjowelU 
 
 on 
 Sargaina 
 
 an& 
 
 " plra« 
 
 ciea " 
 
 senses. I suppose, upon such grounds 
 mainly, that there are wicked publishers, but 
 in the case of our books that do not sell, I am 
 afraid that it is the graceless and inapprecia- 
 tive public which is far more to blame than 
 the wickedest of the publishers. It is true 
 that publishers will drive a hard bargain when 
 they can, or when they must, but there is 
 nothing to hinder an author from driving a 
 hard bargain, too, when he can, or when he 
 must ; and it is to be said of the publisher 
 that he is always more willing to abide by 
 the bargain when it is made than the author 
 is, perhaps because he has the best of it. But 
 he has not always the best of it ; I have 
 known publishers too generous to take ad- 
 vantage of the innocence of authors ; and I 
 fancy that if publishers had to do with any 
 race less diflRdent than authors, they would 
 have won a repute for unselfishness that they 
 do not now enjoy. It is certain that in the 
 long period when we flew the black flag of 
 piracy^ there were many among our corsairs 
 on the high seas of literature who paid a fair 
 price for the stranger craft they seized ; still 
 oftener they removed the cargo, and released 
 their capture with several weeks' provision ; 
 and although there was undoubtedly a good 
 deal of actual throat-cutting and scuttling, still 
 I feel sure that there was less of it than there 
 would have been in any other line of business 
 
IntroSttctocs 
 
 IS 
 
 released to the unrestricted plunder of the 
 neighbor. There was for a long time even a 
 comity among these amiable buccaneers, who 
 agreed not to interfere with each other, and so 
 were enabled to pay over to their victims 
 some portion of their stolen goods. Of all 
 the business men, publishers are probably the 
 most faithful and honorable, and are only sur- 
 passed in virtue when men of letters turn 
 business men." 
 
 George William Curtis, whose relations for 
 nearly half a century with publishers were in- 
 timate enough to give him opportunities for 
 forming an opinion, writes as follows : 
 
 " How often has the Easy Chair assured the 
 incredulous writer of poems, or essays, or 
 tales, or sketches of travel, or any of those 
 papers which are the life of a magazine, or of 
 the books which are the prosperity of pub- 
 lishers, that editors are not malignant Quilps 
 who delight to stick forks in the eyes of un- 
 resisting wooden figures, and that it is not of 
 publishers that the rhyme is written, ' Fee, 
 faw, fum,' nor is the word Englishman in the 
 rhyme meant to describe the author whose 
 bones the grisly ogre-publisher yearns to 
 grind to make his bread. Yet the tradition is 
 very tenacious that, like the luxurious princes 
 who fed on ortolans, so publishers fatten upon 
 the brains of authors. 
 
 "Doubtless many a young poet gnaws his 
 
 Cttitto 
 
 on 
 
 publtobeta 
 
 ant 
 
 S9itOC8 
 
i6 
 
 Hutbors an& pubUsbers 
 
 CUtt<8 
 
 on 
 
 poets 
 
 am 
 
 Ipublisbecs 
 
 heart reflecting that publishers conspire not 
 to print his songs, or that the public conspires 
 not to read them. His book is not printed or 
 it is not read. He is therefore the victim of a 
 bitter wrong. How much better is his verse 
 than that of the others whose songs are in all 
 hearts and upon all tongues ! It is a cruelly 
 unjust world, thinks the poet, because the 
 editor and the publisher will not own his 
 merit ; and he casts a green eye upon the 
 more fortunate who can cajole or corrupt the 
 publisher, and so soar to fame. Will the kind 
 author who cannot (and quite naturally) re- 
 ceive his MS. back again without a pang, 
 reflect that one-half of the books published 
 each year in the United States fail to return 
 their cost, and that one-half of the remainder 
 bring no profit, leaving the cost of supporting 
 the publishing machinery of the country to 
 be borne by the publishers' share of the 
 profits of one-fourth of the books issued ? 
 
 " It was only last month that we mentioned 
 how much Washington Irving owed to his 
 publisher, the late George P. Putnam. The 
 correspondence between the two men gives\a 
 charming glimpse of the relation that may 
 subsist between the author and the publisher, 
 and disposes of the theory that they are natu- 
 ral enemies. What Irving says of his pub- 
 lisher many another author could say also 
 from his own experience. But it is none the 
 
Butbocg 
 
 ITntro&uctors 17 
 
 less true that authors (and in this day of cuttia 
 magazines their name is legion) do often feel ^^^^ 
 that they are greatly wronged by publishers, _ an* 
 and that the business of publishing books and 
 magazines is conducted by favoritism, and 
 envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness. But 
 the business of publishing and editing must, 
 like all other business, to be profitable, be 
 conducted upon business principles, and such 
 principles do not permit the publishing of 
 dull books merely because they were written 
 by personal friends of the publishers, nor the 
 acceptance of articles for magazines because 
 they are the work of the editors' cronies. The 
 fresh genius, the new writer, who shall out- 
 strip Dickens and charm more sweetly than 
 Longfellow, is the hope and anticipation of 
 editor and publisher, and you, young sir or 
 madam, with your modest manuscript, are you 
 not, probably, the celestial visitant long await- 
 ed, and now newly alighted upon the planet ? 
 " But the test of your claim upon a publisher 
 is the probability of your public recognition. 
 You have no right to ask him to pay for the 
 printing and publication of a book which no- 
 body will buy. You may be a great poet or 
 a great prophet (even Wiggins himself), but 
 that does not authorize you to levy upon your 
 neighbor's purse. If your neighbor, being a 
 merchant, decides that he must lose his 
 money should he publish your book, as a 
 
i8 
 
 Hutbors ant) publisbers 
 
 perMn* 
 
 on 
 
 Dubllebeti 
 
 good merchant, he will decline to publish it. 
 It would be as foolish for him to insist that 
 you should give him money upon the pledge 
 of something that you thought to be value- 
 less, as for you to make a similar demand 
 upon him. As a shrewd merchant, he will 
 publish your work upon the best terms he 
 can make with you if he sees his advantage 
 in it, and as an honorable merchant he will 
 strictly observe his bargain with you." 
 
 Another writer whose experience was, on 
 the whole, not unsatisfactory, Mr. Frederick 
 B. Perkins, uses the following words : 
 
 "I have dealt with a good many publish- 
 ers, and while 1 have found some few of 
 them arrogant, discourteous, oppressive, and 
 generally abominable in both personal and 
 business intercourse, I desire to record my 
 testimony that as a class they are courteous 
 and honorable gentlemen ; fair and liberal in 
 views, intentions, and actions, and pleasant 
 and intelligent in mind and intercourse. For 
 my own part, after having examined in detail 
 a good many transactions with publishers for 
 other people, and after having a good many 
 dealings with them for myself, I should be 
 satisfied that what my publisher told me 
 about the sale of my book was true ; that he 
 had done his best to sell it, and that what he 
 had paid me (for my share of the proceeds) 
 was right." 
 
ITntroOuctors 19 
 
 In an article on "The Publisher's Vocation," aunus t. 
 
 on tbe 
 
 Ksbec's 
 Vocation 
 
 the text for which was the cordially apprecia- 
 tive memoir by Thomas Hughes of the pub- uubo 
 Usher Daniel Macmillan, the Rev. Julius H. 
 Ward says : 
 
 "The reading public is ready enough to 
 acknowledge its obligations to authors, and 
 seldom thinks of the party named at the foot 
 of the title-page, through whose agency a 
 book is brought out. The traditions of books 
 give every advantage to the author and 
 printer, and place the publisher midway be- 
 tween heaven and earth, where he is likely to 
 suffer abuse from everybody. Yet he has a 
 relation to the literary public the importance 
 of which can hardly be exaggerated, and 
 without which literature would almost cease 
 to prosper. The author creates, the publisher 
 simply puts his wares on the market ; but 
 between the publishing of books that deprave 
 the public taste and those that elevate it, no 
 one stands in a more responsible position than 
 the man who puts them on the market. The 
 quarrels of authors with publishers would 
 make a long story, and, on the other hand, 
 the encouragement which publishers have 
 given to authors has often been the making 
 of them, and has given direction to the devel- 
 opment of a generation of readers. 
 
 "Their business has its mechanical and 
 secular side, but it also has its moral and edu- 
 
20 
 
 Hutbors an& publisbers 
 
 3UliUB fs. 
 on tbe 
 
 pUbe 
 
 lisber'0 
 Vacation 
 
 cational side. They can much more easily 
 degrade than they can elevate the public 
 taste, and where a publisher has chosen to 
 bring out only good books, and has put con- 
 science into his business, he has always risen 
 through his work to a position of command- 
 ing influence. One does not hesitate a mo- 
 ment to buy the books issued by the leading 
 English and American Houses on the score of 
 their morality, and hardly on the score of 
 literary merit. The reputation of the best 
 Houses is so jealously guarded in this respect, 
 that no inducements can prevail on them to 
 bring out a work of questionable character, 
 especially with an eye to the making of money 
 out of it, while their pecuniary interests are 
 sufficiently at stake to prevent the publication 
 of works that are only fit for the waste-basket. 
 And the securing of the reputation of a high- 
 toned publisher has been the aim, as it is also 
 the present aim, of nearly all the publishers 
 who have been connected with our literature. 
 "One recalls the names of several Ameri- 
 cans who have stood in such relations to 
 authors and readers that their imprint carried 
 immense influence, making them not only 
 benefactors to authors, but the purveyors of 
 the best books to those for whom they were 
 written. Eminent among these was George 
 P. Putnam, who brought a sensitive con- 
 science and excellent literary taste to the 
 
Ilntro&uctors 
 
 business of a bookseller and publisher, and is 
 always to be named as one of the best friends 
 American authors have ever had. 
 
 "He published books on their merits, and 
 drew around him the men who had some- 
 thing to say to the public ; and the magazine 
 which he started in 1853 is still remembered, 
 although long ago discontinued, for the noble 
 character and excellent quality of the contents. 
 He filled out the idea of what the public 
 needed, and had the largeness of conception 
 requisite to the undertaking and the proper 
 business capacity to make it a success. No 
 man knew better how to help authors for- 
 ward, or how to furnish the public with read- 
 able books of the best character. 
 
 "The late James Brown, who lifted the 
 House of Little, Brown, & Co. into its present 
 high rank, was the first American to import 
 the best English books at reasonable prices. 
 Greater as a bookseller than as a publisher, he 
 was eminent in both directions, and from 1837 
 to 1855, he did more than any other man to 
 bring the best thought of Europe into contact 
 with the best minds of America. He had the 
 power to ascertain the contents of a book by 
 glancing through its uncut pages, which is 
 said to have been the secret of the poet Per- 
 cival's wonderful acquisitions while leaning 
 over the counters of George Howe's book- 
 store in New Haven fifty years ago. His 
 
 5ulfue D. 
 umarii 
 on tbe 
 Ipubs 
 [tebec'0 
 Vocation 
 
Hutbors an5 puDWsbers 
 
 3uUus 1), 
 
 on tbe 
 
 puba 
 
 Usbec'g 
 
 Vocation 
 
 word about a book had the weight of the 
 best critical judgment. He developed a taste 
 for the best editions, and was the publisher 
 of Bancroft's, Palfrey's, Everett's, and Win- 
 throp's works, in a style that was an honor 
 to our literature. 
 
 "The old House of Ticknor & Fields must 
 be mentioned in this connection. Mr. Fields 
 rendered excellent and peculiar services to our 
 literature, but the character of the House had 
 been established before he became a member 
 of it. His persistency and literary enthusiasm 
 had an influence in the right direction, but 
 the cool, clear judgment of Mr. Ticknor gave 
 the House its proper weight and character. 
 There are many instances of the highest type 
 of the publisher in Boston to-day, where busi- 
 ness capacity is allied with literary instinct, 
 and where the publisher is forgotten in the 
 scholar and the gentleman, the business by 
 which one lives being almost forgotten in the 
 enthusiasm for good books and in the desire 
 to keep our literature at its highest and best. 
 This ideal is so steadily aimed at, and in many 
 instances so largely realized, that it may be 
 said that our best publishers have lifted their 
 business up to the dignity of the great pro- 
 fessions. 
 
 " But, perhaps, no better type of the book- 
 seller and publisher has ever been known than 
 is disclosed in Thomas Hughes's Memoirs of 
 
iFntrobuctori? 
 
 23 
 
 Daniel Macmillan. The House of Macmillan 
 & Co. now ranks with that of John Murray 
 and the Longmans in point of honor and in- 
 fluence in English literature, and here the story 
 of the way in which it was founded is told 
 by an accomplished and sympathetic writer. 
 ' No man,' says Mr. Hughes, ' who ever sold 
 books for a livelihood was more conscious of 
 a vocation; more impressed with the dignity 
 of his craft and of its value to humanity ; more 
 anxious that it should suffer no shame or 
 diminution through him.' Bound out as a 
 book-binder's apprentice in his eleventh year; 
 carrying the burdens of a large business as 
 if he were a man, before he was well out of 
 his boyhood ; thirsting, like a hundred other 
 Scotch peasant boys of his time, for the free- 
 dom of a large career; improving every leisure 
 moment for the education which his poverty 
 denied him at the University of Glasgow, he 
 was in Cambridge, in a university book-store, 
 in his twentieth year, and at the end of a 
 twelvemonth's service there was not a book 
 on the shelves of the shop with whose con- 
 tents he was not familiar. 
 
 "Ten years later, through the generosity 
 of Archdeacon Hare, whose friendship had 
 been won because the young Scotchman had 
 been built up into a higher type of manhood 
 by studying his Guesses at Truth, and whose 
 loan of ;^500 enabled the Macmillan brothers. 
 
 'Bugbes 
 
 on 
 
 Daniel 
 
 Aacmlllan 
 
24 
 
 Hutbors anO pubUsbers 
 
 on 
 
 S)anfcl 
 
 fflacmfllan 
 
 Daniel and Alexander, to start in business on 
 their own account as university booksellers 
 and publishers, he returned to Cambridge to 
 develop a career as noble as it was honest and 
 sincere. Mr. F. J. Furnivall, in the Academy 
 for August 1 2th, confesses himself among the 
 young men who owed to him 'the best of 
 such teachings as they got from the Univers- 
 ity.' ' The man who taught us to think, to 
 read books that made us think, and opened 
 our minds,' he says, 'was Daniel Macmillan, 
 along with our college friends. As long as 
 his health lasted, and he was able to stir up 
 undergraduates and graduates by his talk, he 
 was a real power in the University.' 
 
 " Mr. Hughes, in the memoir, the reading 
 of which is so thrilling that one's heart leaps 
 into his throat half a hundred times while 
 going through it, brings out his university 
 work, carried on while looking death in the 
 face almost weekly for the last twelve years 
 of his life, in even stronger light than Mr. 
 Furnivall does ; but this work was really only 
 incidental to his great purposes, the overflow 
 of the mind and heart of a deeply religious 
 and earnest man who knew the power of 
 good books to enlarge men's souls. . . . 
 There was so much of live substance in this 
 man, and he had put his heart and soul so 
 truly into the great publishing House that he 
 founded, that he could not be forgotten, and 
 
.i^zfc ^,.^^ ^^^^^^^^ y ^'^^^^^/^^^^^^-^ :C,^<^^t^ 
 

 /v/. 
 
 
 £^:3~ ^'^^--ilZZD 
 
 ^ 
 
 ''L.A^ •^ <-t-^^/Ca,<:.^^V 
 
 ^<3t^— , 
 

 
 " » ■^ — — > 
 
 ■ A 
 
 
 '^^ . / /.^^ i 
 
 ■P- 
 
Untro^uctors 25 
 
 the new generation of to-day has demanded uue 
 
 that the story of the way in which he illus- ^^'^',^ 
 
 trated the possibilities of the publisher's voca- caiiina 
 tion should be known to the world." 
 
 In this connection the editor of the present 
 volume, at the risk of being thought personal, 
 thinks it may be considered of interest to 
 present a letter from Washington Irving to 
 the founder of the firm whose imprint this 
 volume bears. 
 
 The writer once heard of a publisher who, 
 ambitious to cast a poetic halo over his calling, 
 tried his hand at a paraphrase of the well- 
 known lines on Franklin, 
 " Eripuit c(£lo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis," 
 and suggested, as expressing what he would 
 like to have accomplished : 
 "Eripuit poetis animam aurumque populo." 
 " From the authors he seized brains and from 
 the public gold." 
 
 Certainly a most desirable result, and the 
 picture of our publisher, in the guise of a 
 prestidigitator, exercising an infallible King- 
 Midas touch on the material submitted to him, 
 is a very fascinating one. But brains, the pro- 
 ceeds of which can be converted into a satis- 
 factory cash equivalent, are scarcer and more 
 difficult to secure than the youthful writer or 
 the average critic is apt to imagine, and a large 
 
26 
 
 Hutbors an& publlsbera 
 
 Ube 
 Csmmcra 
 
 cial 
 
 "Value" 
 
 of Xltecac:; 
 
 Aatecial 
 
 majority of the productions submitted to pub- 
 lisliers as the offspring of brains, bear very 
 slight traces of their supposed origin, and are no 
 more convertible into current coin of the realm 
 than are the notes of the late Confederacy. 
 
 It is also to be remembered that literary 
 material may possess literary value, but may, 
 for one cause or another, lack commercial 
 "availability." The question that the pub- 
 lisher must consider in deciding upon it is 
 whether enough readers and buyers can be 
 secured for it to render the .publication re- 
 munerative to himself and the author; and 
 the decision must often be unfavorable, even 
 for work of no little intrinsic merit. It may 
 be a scientific treatise, whose teachings, 
 while important to science, would be directly 
 serviceable to but a few hundred readers ; or 
 an historical study, on a subject recently treated 
 by some other writer whose name possessed 
 greater authority, and whose book had there- 
 fore supplied the demand ; or essays, possess- 
 ing originality but lacking literary form and 
 therefore readability ; or a volume of travel, 
 on some part of the world already so fully 
 "bewritten" as to render further description 
 unnecessary and therefore unprofitable ; or a 
 volume of fiction, pleasantly and gracefully 
 written, but not characterized by any distinct- 
 ive power or originality, and likely, therefore, 
 to fail to secure any marked attention from 
 
llntroOuctors 
 
 27 
 
 the critics or any considerable sale with the 
 public. 
 
 The difficulty in the way of a favorable 
 decision may also sometimes be due to some 
 particular circumstances in the state of the 
 " market" for literary wares. 
 
 It may, in any case, safely be concluded 
 that the judgment of the publisher, who comes 
 into direct contact with the reading public, 
 and who has the advantage as well of his 
 own personal experience as of a knowledge 
 of the history of publishing ventures generally, 
 possesses many more chances of being correct 
 as to the probable availability and popularity 
 of literary material, than that of the author, 
 who usually lacks any such knowledge, and 
 whose calculations must be more or less 
 colored by the paternal relation he bears to 
 the article whose value is in question. 
 
 It is true, however, that a publisher avoids, 
 as a rule, passing judgment upon the general 
 value of a manuscript, and restricts himself 
 to deciding whether or not it is available for 
 his own list; and it happens not infrequently 
 that undertakings concerning which one firm 
 is doubtful are promptly entered upon and 
 successfully carried out by another. This dif- 
 ference of opinion is, of course, sometimes 
 due to a difference in clearness of perception ; 
 but it is more frequently the case that the 
 manuscript has, in the first instance, been 
 
 Ube 
 Commcrs 
 
 cUl 
 "Walue" 
 ollltctatB 
 Aatecial 
 
28 
 
 Hutbors anD publisbcrs 
 
 ■Zbe 
 
 Scatcb 
 
 (oc tbe 
 
 gjubliebec 
 
 offered to a House with whose particular line 
 of publications, or with whose position on 
 the questions discussed in it, it did not happen 
 to be in accord. 
 
 It is important, therefore, for the author, 
 before submitting his manuscript, to inform 
 himself, as far as may be in his power, as to 
 which publisher's catalogue it is most likely 
 to be in harmony with. He may, through 
 this precaution, often save time for both him- 
 self and the publishing oflices. 
 
 As, however, it may often be difficult, at 
 least for a beginner in literature, to obtain 
 trustworthy information as to the idiosyncra- 
 sies of the different publishing Houses, he 
 should guard himself from being unduly dis- 
 couraged at receiving one or more declinations 
 of his wares, and should continue to submit 
 his manuscript to one House after another 
 until it has been the rounds of all the firms 
 whose imprints are worth securing. If the 
 work is declined by all, the writer may be 
 pretty well satisfied that, whatever its merits, 
 it is not of such a character as to secure a 
 popular appreciation or a remunerative sale. 
 
 The confident author, possessing a mens 
 conscia inflati divini, may still console him- 
 self with the reflection that perhaps all the 
 publishers are mistaken, and that if his vol- 
 ume could only overleap the barriers which 
 publishing stupidity has placed between it 
 
Untro&uctors 
 
 29 
 
 and the public, the latter would eagerly accord 
 the appreciation and the fame. The history 
 of literature does present instances of obtuse 
 publishers refusing to recognize literary gems 
 which later have brought fame to their authors 
 and profits and prestige to more clear-sighted 
 and enterprising firms. But the number of 
 such instances is, for all the centuries of 
 publishing, at best but inconsiderable ; while 
 literary history fails to give record of the dis- 
 couragingly long yearly list of undertakings in 
 which the publisher's enterprise, influenced 
 possibly by the sanguineness of the author, 
 has outstripped his clear-sightedness and judg- 
 ment, and has resulted in loss instead of profit. 
 
 It has, in fact, been estimated that one half 
 of the books published each year in the United 
 States have failed to return their cost, and that 
 one half of the remainder have brought no 
 profit, thus leaving the cost of supporting the 
 publishing machinery of the country to be 
 borne by the publishers' share of the profits 
 of one fourth of the books issued. If these 
 figures can be trusted, and while it is impos- 
 sible to verify them with precision, they are 
 probably not far from the truth, it is not want 
 of enterprise or lack of faith with which 
 American publishers should be charged. 
 
 In submitting a manuscript, there is, as a 
 rule, nothing to be gained by the author in 
 securing a personal interview with the pub- 
 
 ube 
 
 ®btuse> 
 
 nees of 
 
 IPubiisbert 
 
30 
 
 Hutbors ani) pubUsbers 
 
 tCbe Value 
 
 of tbe 
 personal 
 fntecvfew 
 
 lisher. Of course, there may be many con- 
 siderations which will render it desirable for 
 authors and publishers at some time to come 
 together, but it is very seldom that anything 
 is gained by such personal word at the time 
 the manuscript is first handed in. A literary 
 work, in the few minutes' time that it is 
 proper to allow for a call in a business office, 
 cannot receive such attention as authors usu- 
 ally expect for their productions. It is not, 
 like a Chatham Street hat, to be cared for 
 "while the owner waits." 
 
 There is also no advantage in taking time 
 to point out to a publisher the particular 
 merits or peculiarities of a work. If the pur- 
 pose and value of the material cannot be made 
 clear to the examiner of the manuscript with- 
 out a personal explanation from the author, it 
 is not likely that the volume is in shape to be 
 of much service to the general public. It is 
 probable that there are to-day but few writers 
 so unsophisticated as to undertake themselves 
 to read their manuscripts to the publishers to 
 whom they submit them. Any such would, 
 of course, promptly be told that there is no 
 time in a business office for anything of this 
 kind, and it might also be explained to him 
 that, irrespective of the question of time, a 
 publisher's mind is not apt to be, during busi- 
 ness hours, in a sufficiently free and receptive 
 state to render him appreciative of the beau- 
 
■ffntroSuctors 
 
 ties of literature; and such consideration as 
 he might be induced to give, would, under 
 the circumstances, be most likely to prove 
 unfavorable. 
 
 In fact, as is now very generally under- 
 stood, with all the larger publishing Houses 
 the business of making a first examination 
 and analysis of the manuscripts submitted is 
 in the hands of assistants, who are called 
 "readers." 
 
 The production of manuscripts for publica- 
 tion is being actively carried on by thousands 
 of literary aspirants throughout the country. 
 From Maine to Texas, from Florida to Alaska, 
 the cacoethes scribendi, accompanied by a 
 greater or smaller amount of inspiration, is 
 keeping in motion thousands of earnest pens ; 
 while the manuscripts which are the results 
 of all this hopeful scribbling are,' with the ex- 
 ception of a small proportion finding their way 
 to Chicago and one or two other of the more 
 recently developed literary centres, poured into 
 the publishing offices of three cities : New York, 
 Boston, and Philadelphia. These cities thus 
 form the literary sifters and the literary clear- 
 ing-houses of the continent. As a result of 
 such concentration, the leading publishing 
 Houses receive each (exclusive of magazine 
 material) from one hundred to several hundred 
 manuscripts per month. The task of taking 
 care of this mass of material is quite a consid- 
 
 ttbe 
 
 protuctfon 
 
 at " Xft. 
 
 etature " 
 
32 
 
 autbors an& S>ublisbers 
 
 Ttbe 
 tion of 
 scripts 
 
 erable one, and involves no little outlay of time 
 and money. The cash value of the manu- 
 scripts, if calculated on the basis of the authors' 
 estimates, would be enormous, and even with 
 such considerable discount as it might be 
 proper to make on these estimates, is still 
 quite large, and the labor of keeping the 
 records of the manuscripts, of the correspond- 
 ence connected with them, and of safely re- 
 turning to the owners the greater portion of 
 them, calls for the services of a large number 
 of "manuscript clerks." 
 
 The manuscripts, when recorded and num- 
 bered, are sent out to the examiners, being 
 usually divided among these according to 
 their subjects, fiction going to one class of 
 readers, science to another, theology to a 
 third, etc. The written reports which come 
 back from the examiners refer to the manu- 
 scripts by their numbers, and it may often be 
 the case that the examiners have no knowledge 
 of the names of the authors whose material 
 they are reporting upon. The publishers then 
 give to the returned manuscripts such further 
 consideration as is warranted by the reports 
 of their examiners ; but while a favorable 
 report secures for a work careful attention, a 
 decidedly unfavorable one is usually accepted 
 as final. It will be seen that under such a 
 system a work has every opportunity of secur- 
 ing the thorough examination and the impar- 
 
ITntroSuctorg 
 
 33 
 
 tial consideration upon which writers (not 
 unnaturally) lay so much stress, and that in 
 connection with such an examination of 
 manuscripts identified by their numbers, 
 much less weight can be given to personal 
 introductions and recommendations accom- 
 panying manuscripts than writers are apt to 
 imagine. As we have before said, publishers 
 are always on the lookout for good material, 
 and for the first efforts of the young writers 
 who are to become the leading authors of the 
 next decade ; and each day's supply of manu- 
 scripts is carefully, if not hopefully, scanned 
 in the chance that it may include a Jane 
 Eyre or an Uncle Tom. 
 
 With a few further words of suggestion to 
 those submitting for the press their first pro- 
 ductions, we will bring this introductory 
 chapter to a close. Do not, in a publisher's 
 office, quote the opinions of friends as " having 
 induced you to offer your work for publica- 
 tion," or speak of your friends as being them- 
 selves "ready to purchase a first edition." 
 Publishers have learned to attach little weight 
 to "opinions of friends" as to the literary 
 merit of a work, and such merit must, in any 
 case, if it exist, be open to demonstration ; 
 and sad experience has further taught pub- 
 lishers to place still less faith on the general 
 promises made by "friends " before the pub- 
 lication of a book, to purchase a large number 
 
 SuMcetv 
 
 ions to 
 
 Seginnecs 
 
 in 
 literature 
 
34 
 
 Hutbors an& ipubKsbers 
 
 SnggctU 
 
 ions to 
 
 Beginners 
 
 in 
 literature 
 
 of copies when it is ready. If an author is 
 fortunate enough to be in a position to further 
 the sales of his book, it is wiser for him to 
 refrain from arousing the publisher's expecta- 
 tions (or his scepticism) at the outset, and to 
 let such co-operation come as a pleasant sur- 
 prise afterward. It is also not likely to be of 
 service, to lay stress upon the fact that your 
 "acquaintance with the press" will ensure 
 for your volume favorable consideration at 
 the hands of the literary critics, as publishers 
 are fully aware that the reviews in journals 
 whose opinions carry weight and effect sales, 
 cannot easily be influenced by personal rela- 
 tions or by suggestions from authors. 
 
 Before submitting a manuscript at all, it 
 may often be worth while to take the opinion 
 of judicious friends as to whether it is in satis- 
 factory shape for publication. The grist-mill 
 of the publishing offices is called upon to deal 
 with hundreds of manuscripts, the writers of 
 which have never mastered the first principles 
 of English grammar and could not stand an 
 examination in Webster's Primary Speller. 
 Hundreds more, which are smoothly written 
 and which show a due regard for the English 
 language, are absolutely devoid of ideas. The 
 writers had nothing to say to the public, and 
 yet expect fame and profit for saying it. 
 Much loss of time, and much bitterness of 
 hope deferred and of expectations disap- 
 
Hutbors anO ©iiblisbers 
 
 pointed, could be spared to these writers if 
 they had, in the first place, taken counsel of 
 some of those about them who were in a 
 position to judge whether the material had 
 any value and was in decent form. In coun- 
 try towns, the librarian of the town library, 
 the bookseller, the minister of the parish, or 
 some other neighbor of education or experi- 
 ence would, in most cases, be willing and 
 able to give wise counsel, and counsel which, 
 if followed, would save much waste of effort. 
 Finally, if you are planning to become an 
 author, it will be wise to remember the advice 
 of Punch to the young man contemplating 
 marriage : "Don't." That is, refrain, if you 
 can avoid it. Refrain, unless the pressure is 
 so strong upon you that you can recognize 
 yourself as really being "called," and that 
 literature is to be the " calling." Books must 
 be written out of that which is in you, not 
 made up ; and if without such calling a man 
 sits down, and says to himself : "Go to, let 
 us make a book," so surely will the end of 
 that book and of that man (or woman) be 
 disappointment and emptiness. 
 
 35 
 
 Suggests 
 
 ions to 
 
 Seginnecs 
 
 In 
 literatute 
 
36 
 
 B>ul)Hsbina arrangements 
 
 IRcUtions 
 
 between 
 
 Butbors 
 
 anb pubc 
 
 ItebersTlot 
 
 aAattecof 
 
 public 
 
 Concern 
 
 UNDER this general heading can be con- 
 sidered the methods which are at present 
 in use in the division of the proceeds of litera- 
 ture, and the principles by which these methods 
 have been arrived at. It is my understanding 
 that the statements made and the suggestions 
 submitted are addressed only to literary work- 
 ers. I should take the ground that the provis- 
 ions of agreements between authors and their 
 business agents is a matter with which the 
 general public has no proper concern, and in 
 fact that, without full information concerning 
 the cost of manufacture, the expenses of dis- 
 tribution, and other technical business details 
 which it would be hardly practicable to pre- 
 sent, no proper understanding can be arrived 
 at by the general public concerning the accu- 
 racy of any statement of the results secured 
 from the sales of books, or as to the equity of 
 any method of division of these results. 
 
 I can but think that not a little injustice has 
 been done to authors as a class by the readi- 
 
publtsbing arrangements 
 
 37 
 
 ness with which some few among them have 
 paraded their grievances before a community 
 that was in no position to arrive at a correct 
 judgment upon issues which could at the best 
 be but partially presented, and for the adjust- 
 ment of which, even if they were fairly un- 
 derstood, the public possessed no authority. 
 Why should Canon Farrar, for instance, ap- 
 peal to the public for sympathy because his 
 publishers had made more money than him- 
 self from the publication of a book that had 
 been written "to order" under their suggest- 
 ion and contract, and for which, according to 
 the statement of the Canon himself, he had 
 been paid a good deal more than his contract 
 price ? Why should authors, presumably of 
 adult age and sound mind, plead the "baby 
 act " in regard to their contracts (or their fail- 
 ure to make contracts), any more than the 
 clients of lawyers, architects, or stock-brokers ? 
 Persons who, whether through their own bad 
 judgment or through the wrong counsel of 
 their advisers, pay more for their house-build- 
 ing than they had intended to, or who find 
 themselves losers instead of winners in litiga- 
 tion or in financial speculation, do not burden 
 the public with their complaints, and, if they 
 did, they would certainly be laughed at for 
 their pains. 
 
 It is my further contention that it is not 
 practicable with productions varying so largely 
 
 Ube pubs 
 (Ication bs 
 lElutbors of 
 
 tbefc 
 (Scievancee 
 
38 
 
 autbors an& publisbers 
 
 Ube 
 
 Sasis of 
 
 Ipublisblng 
 
 Brrangca 
 
 menu 
 
 as do books in their origin, character, and 
 commercial possibilities, to arrive at any uni- 
 form rule or practice as to compensation for 
 the writers, or as to the division of the profits 
 in the cases in which any profits accrue. It 
 must nearly always be necessary to judge 
 each case for itself, and to arrive at a distinct 
 arrangement for each book. In laying down 
 the principles which, in his judgment, should 
 determine the compensation of authors. Sir 
 Walter Besant, for instance, has occasionally 
 taken as a typical example, "our old friend, 
 the six-shilling novel, of which not less than 
 10,000 copies would be sold." But Sir Wal- 
 ter's impressions of the salability of the six- 
 shilling novel are evidently based upon his 
 own experience with such deservedly popular 
 stories as /ill Sorts and Conditions of Men, 
 and The Children of Gibeon. Far from being 
 a normal instance, suitable to take as a basis for 
 general calculations, the six-shilling volume 
 of which 10,000 copies can be sold is a de- 
 cidedly exceptional publication, and the num- 
 ber of books possessing this desirable quality 
 would constitute a very inconsiderable per- 
 centage indeed of the 5000 or 6000 works is- 
 sued each year in England, and a still smaller 
 proportion of the 3000 or 4000 annual issues 
 of American publishers. 
 
 1 summarize as follows the several more 
 usual methods of publishing arrangements. 
 
publisbtng Hrrangements 
 
 39 
 
 the methods which are of necessity subject to 
 a number of variations as to details : 
 
 Class I. — Books Published at the Risk and 
 Expense of the Publisher. 
 
 The publisher assumes the entire risk and 
 expense of the production of the work. Un- 
 der such an arrangement^ the compensation 
 or return to the author will take one of the 
 following forms: 
 
 a. — The purchase of the copyright by the 
 publisher. 
 
 Under this form of arrangement, the author 
 sells his manuscript outright for a fixed sum, 
 the publisher becoming the absolute owner 
 of the copyright of the work, and being at 
 liberty to print, without any further remunera- 
 tion to the author, as many editions of it as 
 he may find demand for. Under such a pur- 
 chase, unless there be special provision to the 
 contrary, the publisher is also at liberty to 
 transfer to any other publisher the copyright 
 and the right to publish, the author retaining 
 no control over the publishing arrangements 
 or over the form in which his book is issued. 
 This ownership on the part of the publisher 
 or his assignee is, as I understand the condi- 
 tions of the American law, limited to twenty- 
 eight years, the first term of the copyright 
 that has been secured under the law. At the 
 expiration of this term, the author, or if the 
 
 Ube 
 
 puccbase 
 
 of tbe 
 
 (Eopi^vigbt 
 
40 Butbors anD ipubltsbets 
 
 intetna. author be dead, his widow or child, acquires 
 tionai ^}^g rjg},^ iQ publish the material by securing a 
 renewal of the copyright for the second term 
 of fourteen years, and is at liberty to make for 
 it what new publishing arrangements may 
 seem desirable. I think it probable that the 
 author is not in a position at the time of his 
 sale of the first term of copyright to include 
 in his sale also the second term, as it is quite 
 possible that the ownership of such second 
 term may never be vested in him. I do not 
 find, however, that this question has been 
 passed upon by the courts. (For details con- 
 cerning the law of copyright, see a later 
 chapter.) 
 
 The method of a purchase of the copyright 
 is frequently adopted in the case of books writ- 
 ten at the instance of the publishers, or "to 
 order." It is the form of arrangement that 
 is found convenient for works published in 
 series, such as the International Science Series, 
 the English Men of Letters, the Stories of the 
 Nations, or the Heroes of the Nations. Such 
 a series has been initiated by the publisher, 
 and its plan has frequently originated with 
 him. He has also paid for the editorial work 
 which itself constitutes an important factor in 
 the value of the undertaking as a whole. The 
 personality of a man like the late Edward L. 
 Youmans, for instance, was very strongly im- 
 pressed upon the International Science Series, 
 
pubUsbing Hrrangements 
 
 41 
 
 the various volumes in which had been planned 
 out and arranged for by him under a definite 
 scheme. While each volume possessed of 
 course a certain individual value of its own, 
 due to its subject-matter and to the labor of 
 its author, its commercial value, and in some 
 instances its scientific authority was very ma- 
 terially enhanced on account of its association 
 with the series. Such a consideration may 
 very properly find place as one factor in de- 
 termining what should be paid to an author 
 who has been invited to prepare a volume for 
 a series that is fairly established. In cases in 
 which the repute of the author before the gen- 
 eral public is still to be made, the association 
 of his book in such a series with the con- 
 tributions of older writers who have already 
 secured recognition, should be in itself of 
 material service to the younger writer. 
 
 One difficulty that arises with the purchase 
 of the work outright by the publisher is that 
 in the case of a book which secures any note- 
 worthy or considerable success, the author, 
 notwithstanding the fact that he has surrend- 
 ered all claim to his production, is very likely 
 to feel that he ought to have some share in 
 this continued success, and that a serious in- 
 justice has been done to him by the publisher 
 in securing for a fixed price the entire prop- 
 erty in the book. This feeling is so common 
 that in not a few instances the publishers 
 
 Certain 
 Objections 
 
 totbe 
 puTcbase 
 
 Ssetem 
 
42 
 
 Hutbors an£> iPublfsbets 
 
 jFarrac'f 
 Cbctot " 
 
 have considered it good policy or good equity, 
 in the cases of books which have secured 
 somewhat exceptional sales, to make further 
 payments to the author, even although, under 
 the original agreement, the entire property in 
 the copyright was transferred for the con- 
 sideration of the original payment. 
 
 The publication of Canon Farrar's Life of 
 Christ, already referred to, was an instance 
 of this kind. The publishers had planned the 
 book, had arranged with the author for its 
 production, and had paid the author on the 
 delivery of his manuscript the full price agreed 
 upon (the amount of which had been sug- 
 gested by himself), and in consideration of 
 the satisfactory success secured by the book, 
 they had made further considerable payments 
 which they were, according to their contract, 
 under no legal obligation to make. The first 
 of these supplementary payments the author 
 received with appreciation, but when, in con- 
 nection with two or three further payments 
 of the same kind, he learned that the book 
 was securing a larger sale than had been an- 
 ticipated, he thought he had grounds for seri- 
 ous dissatisfaction, and he brought his griev- 
 ances before the public in a series of printed 
 complaints. A man who had sold a city lot 
 to purchasers who in connection with some 
 sudden increase in the value of property were 
 able to secure a large profit on their purchase. 
 
^nblisbing Hcrangements 
 
 43 
 
 would have had as legitimate cause for com- 
 plaint as was possessed by this particular au- 
 thor. It would, however, not have occurred to 
 the seller of real estate to parade his grievance 
 or his error of judgment before the public. 
 The author whose book gives to the pub- 
 lisher a larger return than had been calculated 
 for at the time when the purchase of the copy- 
 right was made, is very likely to forget that 
 such purchases must at the best be specula- 
 tions, and that in all speculative purchases it 
 is an essential factor in the business calculation 
 that in any ten transactions there must be at 
 least one from which a sufficient profit will be 
 secured to offset the losses or errors of judg- 
 ment on certain of the other nine. The calcu- 
 lation is in certain respects similar to that upon 
 which life insurance or fire insurance is based. 
 It depends, like these, upon the average re- 
 sults that have been secured in a certain num- 
 ber of previous transactions which are taken 
 as precedents. A man who dies the year 
 after he has paid the first premium on his 
 life-insurance policy, makes for his heirs a 
 very considerable profit out of the company. 
 The man who pays premiums for fifty years 
 gives to the company a larger amount than his 
 heirs will receive back from it. He helps to 
 provide the funds which are required in con- 
 nection with the early death of the other party 
 insured. He might claim that it is an injustice 
 
 Ube 
 
 IPutcbase 
 
 of a (Copss 
 
 tlabt necs 
 
 tseaxili a 
 
 Specua 
 
 latfon 
 
 for Kotb 
 
 parties 
 
44 
 
 Hutbors an& publisbets 
 
 Hbe 
 IRocalts 
 St8tem 
 
 to tax an individual whose good constitution 
 or whose good fortune has secured for him a 
 long life, for the benefit of another individual 
 who has been less well endowed physically or 
 who has been less fortunate as to vitality. As 
 a matter of fact, the insured person who, in 
 enjoying a long life, secures no profit out of 
 his company, makes no such complaint. He 
 understands that he has taken part in a busi- 
 ness combination which depends upon a series 
 of averages, and that having taken his chances 
 of profit or loss, it is the part of justice and of 
 common-sense to accept the results. 
 
 There is, of course, a very long series of 
 publishing undertakings in which the pub- 
 lisher, having accepted the speculation of the 
 purchase of the copyright, has made a loss in- 
 stead of a profit. There are possibly instances 
 in which the authors whose books have thus 
 brought loss to the hopeful or trusting pub- 
 lishers, have felt themselves called upon to 
 make good some portion of this loss ; but I 
 admit that 1 have not thus far been able to find 
 record in the history of literary production of 
 examples of this kind; nor do I consider that 
 in the strict equities of business, any such re- 
 payments are called for. 
 
 b. — The royalty system of compensation. 
 
 Under a second form of this first class of 
 arrangements, the author retains the copy- 
 
IPublisbing Hrrangements 4S 
 
 right ownership of his work, and receives use 
 from the publisher as royalty for the copies g°g"em 
 sold a certain percentage of the catalogue 
 price. Such royalty is paid either on all the 
 copies sold or on all copies sold after enough 
 have been sold to return the first manufactur- 
 ing outlays and to insure for the undertaking a 
 profit instead of a deficiency. The theory of 
 such a reservation is that the author and the 
 publisher should begin to make money out of 
 the book at the same time. The royalty is 
 paid simply as a commutation of profits, and 
 it is assumed that the payments should begin 
 when the profits begin to accrue. The de- 
 ficiency on an unsuccessful undertaking would, 
 of course, be increased if the author received a 
 royalty on all the copies sold, and it seems 
 that if the publisher has consented to assume 
 the risk and outlay incurred in bringing a work 
 before the public (a work for the suggestion 
 or originating of which the responsibility has 
 rested not with him but with the author), he 
 ought not to be called upon, if the venture 
 bring loss instead of profit, to swell such loss 
 by the payment of compensation to the author. 
 However much labor may have been in- 
 vested in the work, it seems equitable that, if 
 it does not show itself capable of earning any- 
 thing, if its commercial value proves to be a 
 minus instead of a plus quantity, the author 
 should receive nothing for it. 
 
46 
 
 Hutbors an& ipublisbcrs 
 
 ■Cbe 
 Classfa 
 fication 
 of Koolis 
 
 tor 
 1Rs£alties 
 
 This royalty is usually a percentage on the 
 retail price, but for certain classes of publica- 
 tions, such as text-books, juveniles (books for 
 children), and books sold by subscription 
 (t. e., through general agents and canvassers), 
 a wholesale or net price is frequently taken as 
 a basis for the royalty. 
 
 It has sometimes been rather hastily imag- 
 ined that, under an arrangement by which 
 the author receives on copies sold of a dollar 
 book a royalty of lo cents, the publisher 
 secures from his share of the proceeds 90 
 cents. (1 have seen this calculation gravely 
 submitted in an author's letter to a journal.) 
 A minute's calculation will show, however, 
 how far this is from being the case. The 
 volume published at a dollar, is very fre- 
 quently, in the first place, sold by the retail 
 bookseller to his customer at 80 cents. The 
 publisher receives for it from the wholesale 
 dealer, not 90 cents, but 60 cents, or 55 cents, 
 or sometimes but 50 cents. After deducting 
 from this the cost of manufacturing the volume 
 and the proportion belonging to each copy 
 sold of the cost of the copies printed and not 
 sold, and the further cost of the typesetting, 
 electrotyping, illustrations, press copies, adver- 
 tising, ^c, there would rarely remain as much 
 net profit as 20 cents, and of this 10 cents (or 
 for books which have made a substantial suc- 
 cess, 1 5 cents) would go to the author. The 
 
pubUsbing Hrranaements 
 
 47 
 
 royalty of ten per cent, of the retail price was 
 in fact calculated on the basis of securing for 
 the author an average return of half the net 
 profits. In later years, however, the rates of 
 discount to the distributing dealers have been 
 increased, lessening proportionately the net 
 price received by the publisher, while for suc- 
 cessful books the rates of royalty to the author 
 have been increased. It is probable, there- 
 fore, that, under present conditions, the aver- 
 age return coming to the authors from their 
 royalties represents considerably more than 
 half of the net profits. 
 
 In cases in which a certain number of copies 
 have been excepted from the royalty on the 
 ground that unless or until that number has 
 been sold there will be no profits to divide, it 
 is occasionally arranged that, after a substantial 
 success has been secured by the sale of 5000 
 copies or possibly of 3000 copies, a royalty 
 should be paid also on the first 1000. If the work 
 contain illustrations, the cost of the designing 
 and of the engraving of these, and such addi- 
 tion to the selling price as may be warranted 
 on the ground of the book being illustrated, 
 form a necessary factor concerning the royalty. 
 While a book published without illustrations, 
 at a normal selling price, can, as a rule, be 
 made to return the first cost of its production 
 with a sale of from 1000 to 1500 copies, for a 
 work in which any considerable outlay has 
 
 Ube 
 
 B)ivision 
 
 oftbe 
 
 "■n«t 
 
48 
 
 autbocs anD ©ublisbers 
 
 Eiamples 
 
 oftbe 
 
 IRoBaltB 
 
 Ssstem 
 
 been made for illustrations or maps, a sale of 
 2000 or even 3000 copies may be required to 
 return the original outlay. It is therefore in 
 order, for a book of this character, to provide 
 for the exception from royalty of a larger 
 number of copies, or at least to defer the pay- 
 ment of royalty upon a larger number of 
 copies, until the sales have been sufficient to 
 return the cost of the illustrations as well as 
 of the typesetting. The selling price of a 
 work which, without illustrations, may be 
 published at $1.50 or $2.00, could be made, in 
 connection with artistic illustrations effectively 
 reproduced, $2.50 or even $5.00. The deter- 
 mination of price might frequently depend, 
 for an illustrated book, more largely upon the 
 character and costliness of the illustrations 
 than upon the amount or the nature of the 
 text. If the publisher has purchased, from the 
 designers or artists, the designs of the illustra- 
 tions, he is the owner of the copyright of 
 these designs, and he is, as a rule, entitled 
 therefore to receive for himself the royalty on 
 that portion of the selling price which may be 
 considered as representing the value of the 
 illustrations exclusive of the author's text. 
 
 For an illustrated book, published at $5.00, 
 we may assume, for the purpose of this ex- 
 ample, that $2.50, or one half of the selling 
 price, represents the illustrations and the re- 
 mainder the text. A royalty of 50 cents 
 
IPubUsbfna Hrrangements 
 
 49 
 
 payable to the owner or owners of the copy- 
 right should therefore be divided, 25 cents 
 going to the author and 25 cents to the artist 
 in case he has himself retained the copyright 
 in his designs, or to the publisher if (as is more 
 usual) the publisher has made full payment 
 for these designs. The calculation would, of 
 course, have to be modified in the instance in 
 which the author supplies not only the text 
 but the designs for the illustrations, leaving 
 for the publisher the expense of the engraving 
 of the illustrations in addition to that of the 
 typesetting and electrotyping of the text. 
 
 In the case of books published at the ex- 
 pense of the publisher and under a royalty 
 arrangement with the author, the ownership 
 of the copyright is vested in the author. His 
 agreement with his publisher may be made 
 either for the full term of the copyright, or for 
 a shorter period, such as five or ten years. If 
 the latter course has been adopted, the author 
 is in a position, at the expiration of the agree- 
 ment, to make a fresh and possibly a more 
 favorable royalty arrangement. Under such 
 renewal or extension of the agreement for a 
 book which has won for itself continuous 
 appreciation and has secured increasing sales, 
 it is in order for the author to receive a higher 
 rate of royalty than that which was warranted 
 when the undertaking was first entered upon 
 and when it was, like most publishing under- 
 
 Ube 
 
 Ownersbfp 
 
 of tbe 
 
 Copscigbt 
 
so 
 
 Hutbord an& iPublisbers 
 
 iRateg of 
 1RosaIt:e 
 propoca 
 tioneft to 
 Brtent of 
 Sales 
 
 takings, in the nature of an experiment. 
 There is, in fact, an increase in the practice of 
 making provision in the original agreement 
 for some increase in the rate of royalty after a 
 certain number of copies have been sold. A 
 work which has the quality of finding sale for 
 10,000, 20,000, or 30,000, or more copies, such 
 a book, for instance, as Ben Hur or The Leav- 
 enworth Case, costs less to produce when it 
 can be printed in large lots, say 5000 copies 
 at a time, while the cost of selling and dis- 
 tributing is also proportionately reduced. 
 There is, for instance, no greater clerical 
 labor involved in selling ten lots of 100 copies 
 each than in selling ten lots of one copy each. 
 When a book has secured for itself such pres- 
 tige that its fame is carried from one group 
 of readers and admirers to another, the cost 
 of advertising, or at least the proportion of 
 advertising to the returns from the sales, can 
 be very materially reduced. On these several 
 grounds, the maximum profit per 1000 copies 
 sold is increased, and the author is entitled 
 to receive a larger proportion of this profit, a 
 proportion which usually takes the shape of 
 an increase in the rate of royalty. 
 
 On the following classes of books it is, as a 
 rule, not practicable to pay the same rates of 
 royalty that can be aflbrded on general litera- 
 ture sold in the usual forms : text-books, 
 juveniles (the trade term given to books for 
 
publisbing Hrrangcments s^ 
 
 children), books sold by subscription (that is, Esuca. 
 through canvassers), and paper-bound novels. *jj^°"^g 
 
 In the case of text-books, a large pro- 
 portion of the publishing outlay consists in 
 the expenses connected with the securing of 
 introductory orders. The introduction of a 
 school-book into the official list of books 
 accepted for the city, county, or State, in- 
 volves, as a rule, the employment of expensive 
 travelling agents, the cost of whose operations 
 includes sometimes, in addition to travelling 
 expenses, large items under the head of " in- 
 cidentals." It not unfrequently happens also 
 that educational Houses competing for a mar- 
 ket that is expected to prove profitable in the 
 future, will be willing to agree to sell the first 
 quarterly or even the first annual supplies at 
 nominal prices, prices which may sometimes 
 yield nothing beyond the current cost of the 
 production of the volumes. As a result of 
 these competing operations, some thousand 
 copies of a book may be sold not only at 
 no profit but at an actual loss. There is, of 
 course, the expectation of profit during the 
 continuing years of the contract, and in the 
 advantage of such further sales the author has 
 a very direct interest. In recognition, there- 
 fore, of the special expenditures connected 
 with the sale of text-books and of the im- 
 portance of placing the publisher in a position 
 to compete effectively with the publishers of 
 
52 
 
 autbors an& pubUsbers 
 
 X00I18 for 
 Cbiltren 
 
 rival text-books on the same subjects, it is 
 customary for autliors to accept a lower rate 
 of royalty for text-books than would be in 
 order for a work of general literature. 
 
 Juveniles, or books for children, are, under 
 old-time bookselling custom, sold by the pub- 
 lishers to the booksellers at much larger dis- 
 counts than those that are given on general 
 literature. While a work of standard history, 
 for instance, published at $2.00, would usually 
 be sold by the publisher to the wholesale 
 dealer at not less than $1.20, a volume of the 
 same catalogue price belonging to the list of 
 juveniles, would bring to the publisher a net 
 price of not over $1.00, and sometimes even 
 less. The retail bookseller, on his part, is in 
 the habit of accepting for juveniles considera- 
 bly less than the catalogue price. As a result, 
 this catalogue price, although still forming 
 the basis upon which the royalty is calculated, 
 becomes in fact a nominal rather than a real 
 price. The author of juveniles, therefore, in 
 accepting a lower rate of royalty on this 
 nominal price of his volume, secures in fact a 
 royalty which is as large in proportion to the 
 net wholesale price received by the publisher 
 as that which is given to an author for a work 
 in general literature. 
 
 For books sold, through canvassers, the 
 buyers pay, as a rule, the full subscription or 
 publication price. The net wholesale price 
 
ets 
 
 publfsbing Hrrangements ss 
 
 received by the publisher is, however, very soohs 
 much smaller than that which he secures for ®''''' ^ 
 books sold through the channels of the book- canvass, 
 shop. It is necessary in the subscription 
 trade to give to the general agent, who con- 
 trols some considerable district, a commission 
 to cover the value of his services and the 
 expenses of running his office. The general 
 agent on his part must give to the sub-agent, 
 who controls a smaller district, a portion of 
 this commission ; while the service of the can- 
 vasser, who does the work of soliciting orders, 
 can be secured only through the payment of 
 a commission which, while in appearance 
 large, is found by experience to be requisite 
 to cover the large proportion of wasted effort 
 and to constitute a sufficient inducement for 
 skilled and difficult labor. 
 
 The advantage to the author in getting his 
 book into the hands of canvassers, is the op- 
 portunity of bringing it to the attention of a 
 large number of possible buyers who do not 
 visit book-shops and who can be induced to 
 purchase books only through the personal 
 efforts of canvassers. Authors are, of course, 
 well pleased to have their works thoroughly 
 presented through extensive territories, and 
 they not unfrequently themselves submit to 
 their publishers the suggestion that their books 
 ought to be pushed through canvassers. It 
 is the case, however, that but a very small 
 
54 
 
 Hutbors an& publisbers 
 
 Xoolig 
 
 Sol» 
 
 tbcougb 
 
 Canvasfe 
 
 CCS 
 
 proportion of books are suitable for this class 
 of trade. The canvassers, whose time is 
 valuable and whose travelling expenses are 
 heavy, are entirely unwilling to experiment 
 with works concerning the sale of which they 
 do not feel fairly assured, and if after a few 
 experiments a canvasser does not find his 
 particular class of customers interested in a 
 book experimented with, he very promptly 
 declines to give to this particular work any 
 further share of his attention. The publishers 
 are in any case unable to utilize for this class 
 of trade any books on which heavy royalties 
 are demanded ; while for successful works 
 (such, for instance, as Mark Twain's Innocents 
 Abroad) which happen to meet the special 
 requirements of the canvassers and their cus- 
 tomers, the author can often secure a much 
 larger profit with a comparatively small rate 
 of royalty than would have come to him from 
 a much larger royalty on a book sold through 
 the booksellers. 
 
 With the paper-bound novels, also, the 
 publishers are under the necessity of giving to 
 the booksellers, both wholesale and retail, a 
 larger average discount than is given on simi- 
 lar supplies of bound volumes in general litera- 
 ture. A book in the latter class, for instance, 
 published at $i.oo will, as a rule, bring to the 
 publisher a net price of 60 cents or not less 
 than 55 cents. A novel containing the same 
 
publisbing Hrrangements 
 
 55 
 
 amount of material and costing the same sum 
 to put into type, will be issued in paper 
 covers at 50 cents and the publisher will 
 receive for copies sold $25.00 per hundred or 
 25 cents per copy. There will also be a 
 considerable loss on the copies of these paper- 
 bound novels returned unsold with damaged 
 covers or so far damaged as to be altogether 
 unsalable even if re-covered. While a volume 
 of average size published in cloth at $1.00 can 
 be made to return the first cost of its type- 
 setting with a sale of from 1000 to 1200 
 copies (exclusive of the payment to the 
 author), the same material if published in 
 paper covers will require a sale of from 2000 
 to 3000 copies to return the cost of its pro- 
 duction (also exclusive of author's compensa- 
 tion) together with the waste on the damaged 
 copies. 
 
 The amount paid for advertising constitutes 
 also, of necessity, a larger proportionate out- 
 lay for a volume published at 50 cents, or less, 
 than for one priced at $1.00 or more. An 
 advertisement in a morning paper costing, 
 say, $25.00, can be made to pay if by its means 
 a sale is secured of 20 copies of a five-dollar 
 book, or of 100 copies of a dollar book, while 
 of a 50-cent book the money would not be 
 returned from a sale of less than 250 copies. 
 
 When from the net price of 25 cents received 
 for a 50-cent novel, the publisher has paid an 
 
 riction in 
 paper 
 Covets 
 
S6 
 
 Butbors anb publisbets 
 
 XO0l!« 
 
 Ercepteft 
 
 from 
 IRosalts 
 
 author's royalty of 5 cents, and the propor- 
 tion of the cost of advertising, and of waste 
 on damaged copies and on unused or "re- 
 mainder " copies, there will remain, as a rule, 
 but two or three cents over the current cost 
 of production. On these grounds, a higher 
 rate of royalty than the normal ten per cent., or 
 a rising rate of royalty increasing with the 
 sales, is, as a rule, impracticable for paper- 
 bound novels. 
 
 Agreements under the royalty system 
 usually provide that no royalty shall be paid 
 on copies of the books given away for the 
 purpose of aiding its sale (i.e., to reviewers 
 or instructors), on copies destroyed by fire, or 
 on copies sold as " remainders " at a price 
 which gives nothing over the actual cost of 
 production. 
 
 c. Payments in lieu of royalties. 
 
 The third form of arrangement under this 
 first general class provides for a minimum pay- 
 ment to be made by the publisher on the 
 publication of the work or at some speci- 
 fied date thereafter, with an additional pay- 
 ment or payments after a certain number of 
 copies have been sold, say 5000 or 10,000. 
 When the final payment called for by the 
 agreement has been made, the ownership of 
 the copyright passes from the author to the 
 publisher. This arrangement is in line with 
 
IPublisbing Hrrangements 
 
 57 
 
 the royalty publishing arrangement in so far 
 as it makes the amount of the author's total 
 compensation contingent upon and propor- 
 tioned to the extent of the sales. It differs 
 from the royalty arrangement in guaranteeing 
 a certain minimum payment and in fixing a 
 certain point at which the ownership of the 
 copyright passes from the author to the 
 publisher. In the consideration of the guaran- 
 teed payment and of a somewhat larger re- 
 turn for a sale of 5000 copies or of 10,000 
 copies than that which he would secure under 
 a royalty arrangement, the author finds it to 
 his interest to surrender his lien upon the pro- 
 ceeds of sales beyond that point. 
 
 Such an arrangement also involves a certain 
 speculation on each side. If the book should 
 continue in active and remunerative sale, the 
 publisher will secure an advantage on the 
 strength of his preliminary payments and 
 of the transfer to him of the copyright. If, 
 however, the sale should cease before the limit 
 specified in the agreement has been reached, 
 the author would secure, in addition to the 
 convenience of a cash advance, an advantage 
 in receiving for the copies sold an amount 
 somewhat in excess of that which would 
 have come to him under a royalty per copy. 
 
 d. The half-profit system. 
 
 The fourth form of arrangement under this 
 
 Ube 
 
 Commuti! 
 
 ation o( 
 
 "Koiealts 
 
 Ipa^ments 
 
S8 
 
 Hutbors an5 fftublisbers 
 
 Ube TbalU 
 profit 
 Ssatem 
 
 first class is that known as "the half-profit" 
 system, under which the author receives a 
 fixed proportion (usually one half) of the 
 " net profits " secured from the publication. 
 The author's contribution to the undertaking 
 has been his literary production, while the 
 publisher has contributed his imprint and pub- 
 lishing connection and has provided the capi- 
 tal required to put the book into print and to 
 bring it before the public, and the further 
 amounts that are needed later for current 
 publishing expenses. If the sales prove insuf- 
 ficient to return the publishing outlays, so that 
 there are no profits, the author receives under 
 such an arrangement no compensation for his 
 labor. The public has been unwilling to pay 
 for his book the amount required to bring the 
 book to its attention. The value of the liter- 
 ary labor expended upon the work has, in 
 fact, if reckoned by a commercial standard, 
 proved to be a minus quantity. 
 
 Objections to the " half-profit system " have 
 been made on a variety of grounds. The 
 most obvious difficulty, from the business 
 point of view, is the clerical labor and expense 
 involved in keeping with each book, in any 
 considerable list of publications, an account, in 
 any such detailed and precise form as to render 
 it available later for use as a voucher, of the 
 direct expenses connected with the produc- 
 tion and the sale of the book, and also of as- 
 
publisbtng arrangements 
 
 S9 
 
 certaining, with any degree of accuracy, its 
 proportion of what may be called the indirect 
 expenses, that is to say, its share of the cost 
 of the maintenance of the publishing ma- 
 chinery through which sales are secured for 
 the entire series of books on the list of any 
 one publishing House. 
 
 We may assume, for the purpose of illus- 
 tration, that at a given period the catalogue of 
 a publishing concern comprises one hundred 
 books, and that all of these books have been 
 issued on the half-profit arrangement. It be- 
 comes necessary, therefore, in order to have 
 figures in shape for reference on the part of 
 the one hundred authors or of their respective 
 business agents, that a precise record should 
 be kept of the debits or charges against each 
 work under all the classes of outlay incurred in 
 its publication, in its sale, and in the efforts to 
 secure sales for it. These expenses will in- 
 clude such divisions as the following: type- 
 setting, electrotyping (in case plates are made), 
 illustrations and maps (covering designing, 
 engraving, payment for authorizations, etc.), 
 paper, presswork, binding (including cost of 
 designs for covers and cost of making from 
 these designs the brass cover-stamps), show- 
 bills (including cost of designs as well as of 
 engraving), advertising, descriptive circulars 
 (including cost of the postage and clerical out- 
 lay incurred under any specific distribution of 
 
 Objections 
 
 totbc 
 
 f)alb 
 
 profit 
 
 S:estem 
 
6o 
 
 Hutbors anO jpublfsbccs 
 
 Ube 
 dUrical 
 
 laboc 
 liiTOlveb 
 
 in 
 fteeptng 
 3)etaile» 
 Bccounts 
 
 witb 
 Separate 
 
 Soska 
 
 these circulars among special classes of readers 
 whom it is hoped to interest in the book), re- 
 view copies (including the postage on such as 
 may have to be sent direct by mail), the loss 
 on copies which have been sent out to book- 
 sellers and have been returned unsold and 
 more or less damaged, the insurance on the 
 plates and on the averaged value of the por- 
 tions of the editions kept in stock in the 
 warehouse. 
 
 In addition to these direct expenses which 
 must be charged specifically to each work for 
 which a half-profit account is to be carried on, 
 it is evident that under the status assumed for 
 the business taken as an example, it might be 
 in order, if the actual profits were to be ascer- 
 tained, to divide among the hundred books 
 during each year in which these books are in 
 course of publication, the running expenses of 
 the business, that is to say, the cost of carrying 
 on the publishing machinery. Under this 
 heading would come such items as rent, 
 salaries of clerks and of salesmen, together 
 with the travelling expenses of the latter, the 
 deterioration on the unsold stock carried over, 
 the losses on bad debts, and the advertising in 
 the general catalogues, etc., which are devoted 
 to the list as an entirety. 
 
 If the business undertaking covered a farm 
 or the management of a patent, for which one 
 party contributed the acres or the invention. 
 
Ipublisbing Hrrangements 
 
 6i 
 
 and the other the working capital, the division 
 of expenditures and of the net profits above 
 expenditures would be made on some such 
 basis, as that above indicated. 
 
 In publishing undertakings, however, ac- 
 cording to the ordinary routine of "half- 
 profit " arrangements, it is provided or at least 
 understood that there will be charged to each 
 book only the direct expenses. 1 point out, 
 however, that even with this limitation the 
 clerical labor in keeping such an account 
 becomes itself a serious item in the course of 
 the publication of the book. 
 
 The second objection to this class of pub- 
 lishing arrangement is the difficulty of making 
 clear to authors and particularly to authors 
 whose business experience has been limited, 
 the nature of the various expenses connected 
 with the manufacturing, the advertising, and 
 the selling of books. It is almost equally un- 
 satisfactory, from the publisher's point of view, 
 to have relations with an author who, being 
 doubtful or suspicious concerning the equity 
 or accuracy of certain items in the charges 
 against his book, makes no enquiries or com- 
 plaints, but retains in his mind the feeling that 
 he has not been properly dealt with, as to 
 have to do with an author whose enquiries 
 and complaints are reiterative and are unintel- 
 ligent. Under the latter heading, will be 
 classed complaints which give evidence of an 
 
 £;pensee 
 of pvib* 
 Ugbfng 
 
62 
 
 autbors an& publfsbers 
 
 f urtbcc 
 
 ®biectlon8 
 
 totbe 
 
 1}al(< 
 
 Ipcoflt 
 
 Stttem 
 
 Utter lack of business understanding and which 
 therefore make almost hopeless the task on the 
 part of the publisher of clearing up misappre- 
 hensions and of giving information that can be 
 understood. It is sometimes overlooked on 
 the part of the authors that if a publisher is to 
 carry on his business intelligently, he must be 
 permitted to retain some control of his office 
 hours. Just in so far as any large measure of 
 these working hours must be devoted to what 
 he calls his "botheration account," that is to 
 say, to answering futile questions, to supply- 
 ing reports or approximate guesses concerning 
 sales at times of the year when he has before 
 him no statistics upon which trustworthy 
 reports can be based, to carrying on unprofit- 
 able correspondence about unprofitable books, 
 with authors who have no adequate under- 
 standing either of their own rights and re- 
 sponsibilities or of those of the publisher, just 
 in so far he is hampered in giving adequate 
 and intelligent attention to the rival claims of 
 other authors whose works do possess im- 
 portance, whose questions are pertinent, and 
 whose schemes for further literary under- 
 takings call for careful publishing consider- 
 ation and editorial suggestion, and he is 
 prevented from giving such personal super- 
 vision to his business as a whole as may do 
 justice to his clients and may ensure for such 
 business prospects of success. 
 
publisbtng Hrrangements 
 
 63 
 
 The case would be paralleled if a lawyer 
 with forty-five valuable and sensible clients 
 should permit five other clients whose business 
 was comparatively unimportant and whose 
 understanding of their responsibilities and of 
 those of their counsel was inadequate, to take 
 up office time, or correspondence time, or per- 
 sonal attention in such manner as to imperil or 
 to hamper the successful administration of the 
 whole business of the office. The lawyer, 
 however, has the advantage in defending him- 
 self and his office against time- wasting clients 
 in that, according to the old-time professional 
 routine, he is at liberty to make a charge, and 
 is expected to make a charge, for each inter- 
 view ( /. e. "consultation " ) and for each let- 
 ter. The publisher, on the other hand, who 
 has agreed to publish a book, is expected to 
 hold himself and his hours at the full disposal 
 of each one of his authors, whether these be 
 wise or foolish, considerate or inconsiderate, 
 important members of the literary guild or 
 inexperienced beginners. Particularly is this 
 true in the cases of books issued under the 
 "half-profit" arrangement, in which cases 
 the author feels (and not unnaturally) that he 
 has an interest in, and is entitled to informa- 
 tion concerning every detail connected with 
 the publication. 
 
 The third objection from the publisher's 
 point of view, an objection already referred 
 
 Ube 
 Bbvans 
 
 tage 
 Iposeesse!) 
 
 bstbe 
 Classes of 
 
 t^COfCSsi 
 
 sfonal 
 Btvfsere 
 
64 
 
 Hutbors an& publfsbers 
 
 Sbicctions 
 totbe 
 
 Drofit 
 SsBtem 
 
 to, is that, according to the precedents thus 
 far in force, the half-profit arrangement makes 
 no provision for any division of the losses. 
 If the book makes a success, it is the under- 
 standing of the author that .the net proceeds 
 should be divided equally between the author 
 who supplies the literary labor, and the pub- 
 lisher who supplies the first capital for the 
 publication and the further amount required 
 for current publishing expenses. If, on the 
 other hand, the undertaking results in a loss, 
 it is a further theory of the author that the 
 entire amount of this loss should be borne by 
 the publisher. I know no other class of busi- 
 ness undertakings in which a division of the 
 profits has been arranged for between the 
 parties who have contributed to the venture 
 by labor or by investment, and who have 
 through such contributions become joint 
 owners of such venture, in which it is not 
 understood that the division of the results 
 applies to losses as well as to profits. 
 
 A fourth objection to the half-profit system 
 which is from time to time emphasized on the 
 part of the authors, is that the author is not in 
 a position to verify the accuracy of the charges 
 made by the publisher against the book, and 
 that these charges are frequently made to in- 
 clude items which do not properly belong in 
 such an amount or amounts which have been 
 unduly increased by manufacturing commis- 
 
©ublisbing arrangements 
 
 65 
 
 sions or " secret profit," which is appropriated 
 by the publisher. The remedy for such a dif- 
 ficulty is to be sought in one or two direct- 
 ions. The author should, in the first place, 
 at the time the publication agreement is exe- 
 cuted, secure from the publisher an estimate 
 upon which this agreement will be based, 
 showing the amount that the publisher pro- 
 poses to debit against the book or against the 
 joint account, for the various items compris- 
 ing th2 cost of its publication and distribu- 
 tion. The estimate for the use of such joint 
 account should, in fact, be as precise and as 
 full as if the book were to be undertaken at 
 the entire cost of the author. This estimate 
 would remain available for future reference, 
 and in so far as the conditions of the publica- 
 tion (that is to say, the amount of the mate- 
 rial to be printed, the style ^of the printing, 
 the amount of changes made in the text while 
 it was going through the press, the outlay for 
 advertising, the cost of circulars, etc.), have 
 not been modified under the instructions of 
 the author or under later agreement between 
 the author and the publisher, the final charge 
 against the joint account should, of course, be 
 in exact accord with the amounts specified in 
 the original estimate, and must, in any case, 
 be in accord with the rates so specified. 
 
 An author who has delayed signing his 
 agreement until such an estimate has been 
 
 ®biect<on8 
 
 totbe 
 
 Dalb 
 
 pcollt 
 
 System 
 
66 
 
 Hutbors anO publisbers 
 
 Setfmates 
 
 of 
 
 (Cost 
 
 placed before him, is of course still at liberty 
 to secure from other publishers similar pub- 
 lishing propositions, accompanied by esti- 
 mates which will place him in a position to 
 select the arrangement which appears to him 
 to be on the whole the most favorable. In 
 arriving at such a decision, however, he should 
 keep before him not only the precise figures 
 of the several estimates, but the general stand- 
 ard of book-making which characterizes the 
 publications of the several publishing Houses 
 in question, the probable relative advantage, 
 for his particular purpose, of their several im- 
 prints, and of their trade connections, trans- 
 atlantic or colonial, etc., and also his own 
 impression as to the amount of personal at- 
 tention he can expect to secure from one 
 publisher or another for his particular literary 
 venture. 
 
 Unless the author may himself have had 
 such business experience as places him in a 
 position to judge about details of book-manu- 
 facturing, it will, of course, also be desirable 
 for him to submit to some counsellor who 
 does possess the requisite technical know- 
 ledge, the figures submitted in the estimate or 
 in the several estimates which are to be com- 
 pared. There is, however, of necessity the 
 risk in such comparisons that the different 
 figures may not refer to work of precisely the 
 same standard of manufacture. It must al- 
 
IPublfsbfng Hrrangements 
 
 67 
 
 ways be borne in mind that tliere is in the 
 details of bookmaking, and in the expendi- 
 tures required for such details, almost as much 
 opportunity for variation as in the building of 
 a house. It would therefore be as sensible to 
 speak of one house of ten rooms having been 
 much less expensive to construct than another 
 with the same accommodation, and that there- 
 fore the builder of the second structure must 
 have been guilty of "overcharges," as to make 
 a similar conclusion concerning the relative cost 
 of two books containing each the same num- 
 ber of pages. 
 
 These several comparisons and examina- 
 tions should in any case precede the execu- 
 tion of the contract. After the work provided 
 for under the contract has been carried out, 
 and the expense of the same has been debited 
 against the joint publishing account, in ac- 
 cordance with the agreement and in accord- 
 ance with the specifications in the estimate 
 (previously passed upon and accepted), there 
 is no propriety in raising questions concern- 
 ing the equity of the prices or of the items 
 charged. All of the above suggestions and 
 specifications apply, of course, with equal or 
 with greater force to publishing arrangements 
 under which the entire cost of the production 
 of the book is to be borne by the author. 
 
 A second objection that is submitted on 
 the part of the authors and that has formed 
 
 Sstimates 
 
 o( 
 
 Cost 
 
68 
 
 autbors anO ipublfsbers 
 
 Sivtoion 
 
 of 
 ptocee&s 
 
 the text for a number of criticisms and admon- 
 ishments printed in journals like The Author, 
 is based not on a matter of detail but on a ques- 
 tion of principle. According to a contention 
 frequently raised on the part of authors, there 
 is no equity in planning to divide equally be- 
 tween the author and the publisher the net pro- 
 ceeds secured from the book. The publisher 
 ought, it is claimed, to be considered merely 
 in the light of a selling agent, and on this 
 basis he should be satisfied to receive for his 
 services a simple commission on the sales, 
 a commission calculated at some such rate, for 
 instance, as ten per cent. Those who main- 
 tain the proposition that such an arrangement 
 would present an equitable division based 
 upon the actual relative value of the contribu- 
 tions of the two parties to the agreement, 
 would find it difficult to secure in any other 
 class of business undertakings an example or 
 a precedent for a similar procedure. When 
 an author has contributed to a publishing un- 
 dertaking not only the literary production but 
 also the capital required to put his book into 
 print and into the market, and when, as owner 
 of the plates and the editions as well as of his 
 copyright, he is himself prepared to assume 
 the loss on the undertaking in case the receipts 
 may not equal the expenditures, it is in order 
 to make the compensation for the publisher 
 that of a selling agent (this class of arrangement 
 
©ublisbing Hrrangements 
 
 69 
 
 is considered under Section II.). The entire 
 profits, less the amount of such selling com- 
 missions as may be fixed upon for the pub- 
 lisher, belong properly enough, under such an 
 arrangement, to the author. In estimating in 
 these cases the proper rate of such commission 
 it is, however, in order to take into account 
 not only the actual services of the publisher as 
 a selling agent, but also the value (commercial 
 and literary) attaching to the imprint of his 
 House, and the value also of the connections 
 of the House with the trade in its home coun- 
 try and with the book markets of the world. 
 It might easily be the case that, with a proper 
 consideration of these several factors in the 
 problem, an author would find it to his ad- 
 vantage to concede a larger selling commis- 
 sion to a House with an imprint which carried 
 literary weight and with connections which 
 reached wide markets, than to some other 
 concern, which was personally equally worthy 
 of trust, but whose repute and connections 
 had still to be established. 
 
 There is the further consideration that, if in 
 the judgment of the publisher the book is 
 likely to secure but an inconsiderable sale (on 
 the strength of which judgment he has thought 
 any investment on his part undesirable), the 
 amount of the commissions to be secured 
 from the copies sold might easily prove too 
 small to make an adequate offset for the time 
 
 IDalue 
 
 ot 
 Impcinte 
 
 an!) 
 
 Connects 
 
 ions 
 
70 
 
 Hutbors an& pubUsbers 
 
 Value 
 
 of 
 Imprintt 
 
 anb 
 donnccta 
 
 long 
 
 and attention the publication would require at 
 his hands. A commission of ten or fifteen 
 cents, for instance, on two or three hundred 
 copies of a volume selling at a dollar would 
 produce for the publisher, as compensation 
 for the use of his imprint, his catalogues, and 
 his publishing machinery, an amount of from 
 twenty to thirty dollars. If, according to his 
 calculation, the undertaking is not likely to 
 produce for the publishing office a larger net 
 return than that above indicated, it would be 
 for most publishers an unprofitable and there- 
 fore undesirable business venture, even though 
 it might possess creditable literary quality and 
 even though also the entire cost of its product- 
 ion had been met by the author. 
 
 With reference to the theory previously re- 
 ferred to, that the publisher's work should be 
 done for a small selling commission even in 
 the cases in which the capital has been sup- 
 plied by himself and the risk of loss of that 
 capital or of some portion of it has been as- 
 sumed by him, 1 can only say that it would not 
 be easy to find, either for publishing or for any 
 other class of manufacturing and distributing 
 business, merchants who would be willing to 
 invest capital and skilled labor on any such 
 basis. 
 
 Whatever forms of publishing arrangements 
 may be arrived at as most equitably meeting 
 the just requirements of the authors, it is of 
 
publisbing Hrrangements 71 
 
 course essential that there shall be sufficient 1rn^uce= 
 inducement to tempt capital into the publish- "j"'* 
 ing business and to retain it there unimpaired ipubiisb- 
 and with a fair prospect of earning returns for (j^'pftaj 
 its owners. In any calculation on the part 
 of one contemplating an investment in the 
 business of publishing, a long series of factors 
 must be taken into account in the calculation, 
 such as, the amount of moneys required and 
 the time during which these must remain 
 unproductive ; the risk or percentage of 
 losses, based upon the averaged returns from 
 publishing undertakings of previous years; 
 the extent of the personal labor and direct 
 supervision necessitated by the nature of the 
 business as compared with vocations which 
 can be so organized as to run almost automatic- 
 ally. To these should be added the risk (one 
 might say the certainty) that in connection 
 with the special character of the goods dealt in 
 and on the ground of the special characteristics 
 of the literary producers who will be his clients, 
 he will have to devote a larger proportion of 
 time to unremunerative correspondence and 
 interviews than would as a rule be called for 
 in other classes of business or in professional 
 occupations. 
 
 If, after giving due consideration to these 
 several factors, a man who may be thinking 
 of investing his capital and himself in a 
 publishing business, decide that the prospect 
 
72 
 
 Hutbors anJ> publisbers 
 
 fnAucea 
 mcntg 
 
 lot 
 publtebs 
 
 fng 
 Capital 
 
 of commercial returns and of a satisfactory 
 business experience would on the whole be 
 more favorable with pork or with cottons or 
 with drugs, the literary interest will lose the 
 advantage of the use of such capital and of the 
 services of such individual. Any widespread 
 conviction among business men that, in con- 
 nection with the peculiar difficulties pertaining 
 to the publishing business and the lack of an 
 assured foundation for returns, it was on the 
 whole an undesirable channel for investment, 
 would have a disadvantageous influence on 
 the interests of literary producers. The old 
 economic truism would come into force: 
 "When two publishers are seeking one au- 
 thor, the proportion of the proceeds offered 
 to the author, goes up. When two literary 
 workers are seeking one publisher, the com- 
 pensation for literary labor [the author's share 
 in the net return] goes down." In like man- 
 ner, if through losses, or withdrawal of capi- 
 tal, or lack of inducement the amount of 
 publishing capital available for the production 
 of books should be decreased, the facilities of 
 literary producers and the prospects of returns 
 for their labors must be proportionately di- 
 minished. It is therefore decidedly important 
 for the interests of authors that the number of 
 intelligent publishers with capital available for 
 the production of books shall not be materially 
 lessened, or certainly at least that the amount 
 
pubUsbing arrangements 73 
 
 of such capital shall not be decreased. A isbe 
 Ruskin may, occasionally, secure an effective """j"* 
 presentation of his books to the public through pubusta 
 the employment of a selling agent. Such a ggj^'ce 
 case is, however, in more ways than one ex- 
 ceptional, and even with Ruskin's books the 
 experiment was not made until after, during 
 a term of nearly a quarter of a century, they 
 had been effectively presented to the book- 
 buying public associated with one of the most 
 dignified and influential publishing imprints 
 in Great Britain. The experience of literary 
 workers since the beginning of printing has 
 given evidence that the production of books 
 in a satisfactory manner, their effective distri- 
 bution in the markets of the world, and the 
 assurance of a compensation to their writers 
 proportioned to the extent of their sale, call 
 for something more than a mere selling agent. 
 The service is required of a publisher who 
 can be depended upon to supply, in addition 
 to the use of his capital, and of his imprint 
 and connections (factors not to be created in a 
 day), skilled professional co-operation. Serv- 
 ice of this kind must be paid for, and, as with 
 professional work generally, it may easily 
 prove that the service which is offered at the 
 lowest rate, and which is nominally the cheap- 
 est, proves in the end by no means the most 
 profitable for the clients. 
 The several forms of publishing arrange- 
 
74 
 
 Hutbors an& publisbcrs 
 
 Xookf 
 pu&lisbe» 
 
 'fortbe 
 Hutboc 't 
 Bccount " 
 
 ments specified under the above class are 
 made to cover a specific term of years. This 
 term is sometimes for the full period of the 
 copyright, twenty-eight years, but is more 
 frequently for a shorter period, ten, five, or 
 three years. At the expiration of such term, 
 if the author and publisher fail to agree upon 
 a renewal of the arrangement, the former can 
 either himself purchase the plates and the re- 
 maining stock, or can arrange with some other 
 publisher to make the purchase. The selling 
 value of the plates and copies can be arrived 
 at by appraisal. 
 
 Class II. — Books Published " For the Ac- 
 count OF THE Author," /. e., at the 
 Author's Risk and Expense, or in which 
 HE Assumes a Portion of the Investment. 
 
 a. — The author bears the entire expense. 
 
 The author assumes the entire risk and ex- 
 pense for the production of the work, and he 
 remains the owner not only of the copyright, 
 but also of the copies printed, of the plates, if 
 any plates are made, and of any illustrations 
 connected with these plates. The books are 
 sold "for the account of the author," that is, 
 the net returns from the sales, less a selling 
 commission for the publisher, go to the author. 
 The arrangement is the converse of the royal- 
 ty system, — ^the publisher, in place of paying 
 
pttblisbing arrangements 
 
 75 
 
 a royalty on the sale of books owned by him- 
 self, receives a royalty (or commission) on the 
 sale of books which are the property of the 
 author. 
 
 The first step in such an arrangement, after 
 the author has decided that the imprint of the 
 publisher will meet his requirements, and the 
 publisher has, on his part, expressed his will- 
 ingness to associate his imprint with the work, 
 is the preparation of estimates showing the cost 
 of printing the book in the style selected. 
 
 When the author has accepted the publish- 
 er's estimate, it is customary for him to ad- 
 vance one half of the amount calculated as the 
 cost of the first edition, the remaining half be- 
 ing payable when the printing is completed 
 and the book is ready for publication. The 
 electrotype plates and the edition printed are 
 then the property of the author, the books 
 being consigned to the publisher for sale. 
 
 Under such an arrangement, it is customary 
 for the publishers to render returns to the au- 
 thor for the copies sold, at ten per cent, less 
 than the price received by them from the 
 wholesale , dealers, this percentage being re- 
 served as their publishing commission. 
 
 If a book is published at a dollar and is sold 
 to the wholesale (distributing) dealers at a 
 discount of forty per cent., the publisher will 
 receive from the dealers sixty cents per copy, 
 or $600 per 1000 copies. He will pay to the 
 
 Xoofis 
 
 |>ubltobeb 
 
 "tortbe 
 
 Butboc's 
 
 Scconnt " 
 
76 
 
 Hutbors anD pubUsbers 
 
 net 
 
 ptoceete 
 
 to 
 Butbora 
 
 ant 
 publtobetB 
 
 author fifty cents per copy, or $500 per 1000 
 copies, reserving as his publishing commission 
 ten cents per copy, or $100 per 1000 copies. 
 The author's profit is the difference between 
 the $300 he receives and the cost of manufac- 
 turing his thousand copies plus the expend- 
 iture for advertising. The manufacturing 
 outlay will, it must be borne in mind, be con- 
 siderably less for a second lot of 1000 copies 
 and for subsequent supplies, than for the first 
 edition, as with this latter must be included 
 the cost of the composition, the electrotyping, 
 the illustrations, etc. 
 
 Such further editions are printed as the 
 demand may justify and as the author may 
 order. As a rule, no further payment for 
 these is required from the author, as, in the 
 event of the first edition having been disposed 
 of, and the accounts for it not having been 
 closed, the publisher will have in his hands 
 more than suflicient proceeds from its sale to 
 provide for the cost of further supplies. 
 
 For books of a special character for which 
 only a limited circulation can be expected 
 (which class of books is usually printed in 
 limited "letter-press" editions), it is custom- 
 ary to restrict the discount given to dealers. 
 On this class of books, therefore, the author 
 may arrange to secure, in place of fifty per 
 cent, of the retail price, sixty per cent, or sixty- 
 five per cent, of such price. 
 
©ubUsbfng Hrrangements 
 
 77 
 
 When a book is, under this method, pub- 
 lished "for the account of the author," the 
 outlays for advertising, circulars, etc., are 
 debited to the author, and the amount of these 
 is deducted from the payments made to the 
 author from the sales. The author should, 
 however, insist that no such outlays should 
 be incurred for his account excepting under 
 specific instructions given by himself. The 
 cost of the advertising done in the catalogues 
 and quarterly lists of the publisher and in any 
 periodicals owned and published by the pub- 
 lisher, should be assumed as belonging to the 
 publisher's portion of the expense. 
 
 A form of "instructions to publishers" is 
 given to the author for his signature, and in 
 such form provision is made for the author's 
 decision concerning such details as the selling 
 price of the book, the amount to be expended 
 for preliminary and for supplementary adver- 
 tising, the number of copies to be distributed to 
 the Press, the amount of insurance to be carried 
 on the plates and on the editions, etc. With 
 this form of instructions duly filled out, the 
 author will usually also place in the hands of 
 the publishers the list of copies' which are to 
 be sent to his correspondents "with the com- 
 pliments of the author." The number of 
 copies so distributed, together with the num- 
 ber of copies delivered to the Press for review, 
 and of those delivered to the author himself, 
 
 publtebing 
 
78 
 
 Hutbors an& publisbers 
 
 Butborr 
 
 Ventuces 
 
 in fleet 
 
 will be deducted from the copies for which 
 the publishers will render account to the 
 author. 
 
 A number of the suggestions concerning 
 publishing details under the heading of the 
 half-profit system will of course be equally 
 applicable to the method of publishing the 
 book "for the account of the author," and 
 also to the third general division of publishing 
 arrangements specified in the following sec- 
 tion. 
 
 This method of publishing "for the account 
 of the author" is utilized chiefly for works of 
 a special character which possess scientific 
 value or literary interest, and with which the 
 publisher is therefore ready to associate his 
 imprint, but concerning the extent of the 
 probable demand for which he finds reason to 
 be doubtful. It is also frequent in the cases 
 of volumes of poems, and particularly of first 
 publications by authors whose names do not 
 yet possess any assured market value. It is 
 possible enough of course for the publisher's 
 judgment to be in fault in regard to the prob- 
 able commercial value of first books, and it 
 has occurred more than once that "authors' 
 books" have secured a more remunerative 
 sale than others of the popularity of which 
 the publishers were very confident. 
 
 The history of literature also presents many 
 instances of authors whose books afterward 
 
publfsblng Hrrangements 79 
 
 became famous and profitable, being obliged E)ivi«(on 
 to advance the cost of printing their first or ^^*J^^ 
 their earlier productions. Washington Irving ment 
 published (in London) at his own expense 
 the first edition of The Sketch-Book, v/hich had 
 been declined by Murray and by several other 
 of the leading London publishers. The second 
 edition was issued by Murray (Byron's Mur- 
 ray), whose friendship and co-operation proved 
 later very valuable for the young American. 
 As the ownership of the editions and of the 
 plates rests with the author, the decision con- 
 cerning the insurance of the property must be 
 arrived at by him. It is customary for the 
 details of the insurance to be taken care of 
 by the publisher (under written instructions 
 from the author), the cost of the premiums 
 being debited to the account of the author. 
 
 b. — Author's ownership of plates and of 
 copyright. 
 
 Under the second form of this general class 
 of publishing arrangements, the risk and the 
 original investment are divided between the 
 author and the publisher. The most common 
 method for such division is for the author to pay 
 the cost of the type-setting and electrotyping 
 (including that of any illustrations that may be 
 planned for) ; and to receive, in addition to the 
 royalty for his copyright, a further royalty for 
 the use of his plates. The author remains the 
 
8o autbors anO publisbers 
 
 H)i»(6ion owner of the plates as well as of the copy- 
 
 ol 
 
 unwBt. right, and he is, of course, in a position at the 
 •"«"♦ expiration of the term of agreement, if he has 
 any ground for dissatisfaction, to take the pub- 
 lication of his book out of the hands of the 
 original publisher and to transfer the plates and 
 the right of publication to some other House. 
 Under this form of arrangement, the outlay 
 of the author is limited to the first edition, 
 unless for later editions he makes changes in 
 or additions to the plates. The outlay of the 
 publisher is repeated for each edition printed, 
 this outlay comprising the cost of manufactur- 
 ing the editions from the author's plates, and 
 that of the advertising. Press copies, catalogu- 
 ing, damaged copies, etc. 
 
 The ownership of the editions printed of 
 the book rests under this arrangement with 
 the publishers and, provided that they fulfil 
 their obligation of keeping the book in the 
 market as to supply such demand as may be 
 sufficient to cover the cost of subsequent edi- 
 tions, the decision as to the number of copies 
 to be printed and as to the time of printing 
 these later editions should rest with the pub- 
 lishers. The responsibility for the protection 
 by insurance of the plates of the book rests 
 with the author who is the owner of these 
 plates. He may either himself take out the 
 insurance policy or (as is the more usual rout- 
 ine) he may instruct the publisher so to do. 
 
pu&Iisbing Hrrangements 
 
 8i 
 
 The publisher is, however, not responsible for 
 such insurance unless he has received v^^ritten 
 instructions from the author as to the insur- 
 ance valuation that is to be placed upon the 
 plates and as to debiting the author's account 
 with the cost of the premium. 
 
 There are certain conveniences in retaining 
 the ownership of the plates of a book which 
 cause many authors to prefer this method. 
 If any changes, corrections, or additions are 
 considered by the author essential or desirable, 
 before the printing of further editions, it is 
 much easier for the author to arrange for these 
 to his satisfactjoft if he be the owner of the 
 plates than if it may first be necessary to de- 
 cide with the publisher how the cost of such 
 alterations ought to be divided. It is also a 
 convenience for an author who, at the close 
 of a contract with one publisher, may desire 
 to transfer his works to some other House, to 
 be in a position to transfer his plates at the 
 same time, instead of being obliged first to 
 arrange for the purchase of these and possibly 
 to combat some difference of opinion as to their 
 market value. In the event of a publishing 
 firm becoming bankrupt, the plates of the 
 books belonging to them are of necessity dis- 
 posed of to the highest bidder, and an author 
 not owning his plates might undergo the an- 
 noyance of seeing his books transferred to 
 some firm which he would never with his 
 
 Butboc'e 
 
 ®wnersbfp 
 
 of 
 
 plates 
 
82 Hutbors an5 fbublisbers 
 
 fffrst own option have selected as his publishers ; 
 
 sooiis and finally, an author who owns his plates as 
 well as his copyrights may feel that his lit- 
 erary property is more fully under his own 
 control, as part of his estate to devise and to 
 bequeath as seems best to him. 
 
 ^Publishing Arrangements. — Summary. 
 
 For a book which is a first production of its 
 author, the name of the writer of which does 
 not as yet carry weight with the reading pub- 
 lic, and which does not impress the advisers 
 of the publishers as likely to command favor- 
 able attention or a remunerative sale, a fre- 
 quent publishing arrangement is, as stated, 
 that under which the author bears either the 
 whole or a part of the investment required. 
 For a book by an author already favorably 
 known and for which a circle of readers may 
 be assumed to be waiting, the most usual 
 publishing arrangement, at least in the United 
 States, is that under which the author receives 
 a royalty on the copies sold, his final receipts 
 being in this manner directly proportioned to 
 the success of his work. This royalty method 
 is that in most general use on the Continent 
 and is now becoming more frequent also in 
 Great Britain. 
 
 A publisher is occasionally tempted to under- 
 take the publication, at his own risk, of a book 
 which is the first work of its author, on the 
 
pubUsbing Hrrangements 83 
 
 ground not necessarily that the book itself im- ffirst 
 presses him as a production of high literary *'""'* 
 quality or as likely to secure for itself any 
 large measure of success, but because as a 
 first effort it gives evidence of what is called 
 " literary promise." The advisers of the pub- 
 lisher impress upon him the opinion that the 
 author of this first and possibly somewhat 
 crude or unfinished production has a literary 
 future and is likely to produce work of literary 
 importance and of assured, commercial value. 
 As a result of such counsel and possibly also 
 with a personal impression in the same di- 
 rection, the publisher undertakes the task of 
 introducing a new author to the public. If 
 his publishing experience covers any term of 
 years, or if he has informed himself of the ex- 
 perience of older members of the trade, he will 
 realize that the chances of this particular au- 
 thor being accepted by the current generation 
 or finding a place for his work in the per- 
 manent literature of the country, are decidedly 
 adverse. Perhaps one out of ten, or possibly 
 one out of twenty, of these first productions 
 may really prove to be the forerunner of litera- 
 ture of continued value. It is difficult, however, 
 altogether to repress optimism, even in a pub- 
 lishing office. With each month's ventures 
 the hope returns that a larger proportion of 
 the ducklings may turn out to be swans, and 
 the publisher is brought back to an actual 
 
84 Hutbors and publisbers 
 
 ■keeping realization of tlie real percentage of literary 
 BooiJB "possibilities" only when, at the time of his 
 annual inventory, he has placed before him 
 the figures showing the extent of the stacks 
 of the unsold books in the warehouse and the 
 still more troublesome figures of the unfavor- 
 able balance sheet, the inevitable consequence 
 of the printing of books that the public has 
 not been prepared to purchase. 
 
 It may nevertheless in the long run still 
 prove advantageous to expend money and la- 
 bor upon unsuccessful experiments if once or 
 twice, at least, in the course of the year the 
 publisher may be fortunate enough to come 
 into relations with a new author for whose 
 works a large and continued reading public 
 can be found. There is always a hope of a 
 Charlotte Bronte, a Mrs. Stowe, or a Du Mau- 
 rier. Under the older methods of publishing, 
 the author whose first book had been taken 
 up by a publisher at his own risk and ex- 
 pense, recognized that there was a certain 
 obligation to be fulfilled. When the second 
 book was completed, which represents, as a 
 rule, more mature and more effective work, 
 and which is much more likely to possess 
 literary and commercial value, such second 
 production was, as a matter of course, brought 
 to the publisher who had risked money (and 
 who frequently had incurred loss) on the 
 earlier work. Apart also from any feeling of 
 
publisbing Hrrangements 
 
 8s 
 
 obligation, an author migiit very properly be 
 advised by his business counsellors that there 
 was a direct business advantage to himself in 
 placing his second book under the manage- 
 ment of the publisher who had issued the 
 first. If the second book secured favorable 
 reviews and appreciation at the hands of the 
 buyers, fresh attention would be drawn to the 
 first volume and renewed sale could, as a rule, 
 be secured for this. The two books would be 
 chronicled together in the same catalogues 
 and in the same advertisements, while each 
 volume would carry in its own advertising 
 pages a reference to the other. The books 
 would also be offered together by the travel- 
 ling salesmen to the booksellers throughout 
 the country, and the dealer purchasing sup- 
 plies of the new work could, as a rule, be in- 
 duced to include in his order copies of the 
 earlier book. 
 
 The same considerations which brought 
 about a business advantage in associating two 
 books together in the same publishing list (an 
 advantage in which an author who retained 
 the ownership of his copyright would of 
 course be a sharer) obtains in increasing meas- 
 ure for longer series of works by the same 
 writer. Each new book serves to advertise 
 and to bring renewed attention to the earlier 
 works. The reviewers will very frequently, 
 in commending a book which gives evidence 
 
 Iteepfng 
 
 Xoolte 
 
 Uogctbec 
 
86 
 
 Hutbors and publfsbers 
 
 tteeping 
 
 Soolii 
 Uogetber 
 
 of literary and intellectual development, make 
 reference to the series of the writer's earlier 
 writings. The set comes into increasing sale 
 through what may be called the cumulative 
 momentum of publishing effort. The vol- 
 umes come to be catalogued as "works" or 
 "writings," and are placed together in a box, 
 a detail which in the minds of booksellers and 
 of library committees helps to confirm the im- 
 pression that they have been accepted as 
 "standard literature." Librarians and book- 
 buyers generally have also a decided prefer- 
 ence for books that can be secured in a uniform 
 style of typography and of binding. There is 
 in fact a very considerable measure of im- 
 patience on the part of readers with an author 
 whose publishing arrangements have scattered 
 his different works so that these are issued in 
 a variety of sizes, forms, and styles, of which 
 no uniform set is obtainable even at an in- 
 creased price. The annoyance is not a mere 
 empty sentiment, but interferes very directly 
 with continued sales. 
 
 When a publisher has in his hands a group 
 of books by an author who is from year to 
 year making additions to the set, the publisher 
 finds it good business to do all that is practi- 
 cable to emphasize the importance of the au- 
 thor himself apart from the value of any single 
 volume. The set of books constitutes a liter- 
 ary property, in the management and in the 
 
IPubUsbtng Hrrangements 
 
 87 
 
 extension of the value of which authors and 
 publishers are jointly interested. 
 
 Many examples could be presented from the 
 literary history of the past twenty-five years 
 of authors whose books have, as first published, 
 attracted distinctive attention and have come 
 into immediate sale. Because, however, these 
 books have been scattered on the lists of a 
 number of publishers, no one concern has 
 been interested in pushing the sale of the 
 entire series or in keeping the name of the 
 author before the public. A publisher of one 
 book has felt that any general advertising that 
 he might do concerning the author would 
 accrue in part at least to the advantage of his 
 competitors. The salesmen have had no in- 
 structions to bring to the attention of buyers 
 any volumes other than the one issued by 
 their own firm. There is the lack of cumula- 
 tive publishing effort, a lack which in the end 
 works adversely to the continued sale of the 
 whole series of books. Books of smaller 
 individual importance and of less literary 
 value have at the end of a given term of years 
 shown better continuous results because they 
 have been kept under one publishing manage- 
 ment. 
 
 The immediate advantage presented by any 
 competing offers for the second book or the 
 later books of an author must be very con- 
 siderable indeed to offset the material detri- 
 
 Iteepiiig 
 
 Xooka 
 Uogetbec 
 
88 Hutbors an& publisbers 
 
 •Reepinj merit caused to an author's property interests 
 u^'etb' ^"'^ ^° ^^^ confimercial value of his productions 
 by publishing arrangements which, scatter his 
 books among half a dozen publishers, and 
 which render it impossible for the buyer to 
 purchase his writings in a uniform set. 
 
 There is the further consideration that, 
 unless publishers can feel some degree of 
 assurance in accepting first books, which are, 
 as a rule, not finished productions and a very 
 large proportion of which will in any case 
 produce losses, that they are establishing re- 
 lations with an author whose future work is 
 likely to possess importance, they must of 
 necessity be less hopeful and less hospitable 
 in giving consideration to the volumes first 
 offered. It would be a serious disadvantage 
 to young writers if there should be any 
 material diminution of readiness on the part 
 of the publishers to give them an opp^ortunity 
 of getting a hearing before the public. It 
 would in fact often be not merely equitable 
 for both parties but good business for the 
 author, in securing a publishing arrangement 
 for his first book, to agree to give to the 
 publisher the refusal of his second. From the 
 business point of view, the publisher on his 
 part ought not to incur speculative expenditure 
 in bringing a new author before the public 
 unless he can have some assurance that the 
 relation will continue beyond the first volume. 
 
publfBbfng Hrrangemcnts 
 
 89 
 
 This does not mean that a young author ought 
 to be asked to bind himself under some hard 
 and fast contract to give to one publisher 
 the control of any long series of future 
 productions. He ought to retain freedom of 
 action so that when his market value has, to 
 some extent at least, been established he may 
 be in position to secure the full advantage of 
 this value, whether with his original publisher 
 or with some competing Houses who are 
 prepared to offer more satisfactory arrange- 
 ments. There should, however, as said, be 
 some recognition of the service originally 
 rendered, and, unless there be some very 
 definite grounds for complaint or cause for 
 dissatisfaction, the management of the first 
 publisher will, on the grounds specified, be 
 most likely to prove serviceable and profitable 
 for the succeeding undertaking. This point 
 will be touched upon further in the section on 
 the employment of a literary agent. 
 
 Class III. — Publishing Arrangements for Pro- 
 ductions First Printed in Periodicals 
 OR Cyclop/edias. 
 
 The increasing importance of the receipts 
 secured by writers (and especially by success- 
 ful writers of fiction) from the publication of 
 their productions in periodicals, makes neces- 
 sary a word of reference to this class of 
 publishing arrangements. 1 do not propose. 
 
 BrticUs 
 {n 
 
90 
 
 Hutbors and ipublfsbers 
 
 Btticles 
 
 in 
 
 perioMcato 
 
 however, to give consideration to the relations 
 of authors with the editors of the magazines or 
 journals in which their articles are first printed. 
 This matter constitutes a subject by itself, or 
 (as Kipling would say) another story. I wish 
 simply to point out the necessity for certain 
 precautions on the part of writers who have 
 in plan the later publication in book form of 
 papers which first come into print in the 
 pages of a periodical. 
 
 In the first place, the author should assure 
 himself that the arrangement entered into by 
 him with the publisher or manager of the 
 periodical leaves with himself the ownership 
 of the copyright of his production and the un- 
 questioned control of all rights for its republi- 
 cation in book form. If, as is usually the 
 case, it is the intention of the author to sell to 
 the periodical simply the right to the single 
 publication in its pages, and to reserve all 
 further publishing rights, such understanding 
 should be clearly specified in the agreement, 
 or letters of arrangement, or in the receipt 
 given by the author for the payments made. 
 In the earlier days of magazines, the practice 
 was general for the publisher to purchase the 
 copyright and all publishing rights of the 
 papers accepted by him. In the absence of 
 any specific agreement or written reserva- 
 tion to the contrary, it would, I think, a cen- 
 tury or half a century ago, have been assumed 
 
publfsbing Btrandcments 
 
 91 
 
 that the payment made for an article by the 
 magazine publisher, transferred to him the 
 full ownership and control of such article. 
 
 It is my understanding that 'Putnam's 
 Monthly, which began publication in 1852 and 
 which was the first American monthly de- 
 voted exclusively to the contributions of 
 American writers, was also the first American 
 periodical the publisher of which specified in 
 the receipts presented to authors for their 
 signature that the copyright and publishing 
 rights in their contributions remained vested 
 in the author. The only condition connected 
 with the arrangement was that in case the 
 material were later to be issued in book form, 
 the publisher of the magazine should have the 
 first refusal of such book. Even this condi- 
 tion, there was, of course, no difficulty in 
 waiving in the cases of authors who had 
 standing arrangements for their books with 
 other Houses. This status of magazine con- 
 tributions, which was the exception in 1852, 
 is at present the rule with all the leading 
 magazines on both sides of the Atlantic, and 
 an author is perfectly safe in putting his signa- 
 ture to the form of receipt in use with these 
 magazines, as he is, under the agreement ex- 
 pressed in such receipts, left in full control df 
 the copyrights and book-rights of his material. 
 
 In the case of the less known magazines, or 
 of newspapers, it is, however, wise for the 
 
 Ube 
 
 Drecetent 
 
 Setbs 
 
 " puta 
 
 nam's 
 
 Aontbls" 
 
92 
 
 Hutbors an5 publisbcrs 
 
 ptttcbaee 
 
 of 
 (Copscfgbt 
 
 6b 
 perfoMs 
 
 cab 
 
 author to insist upon a specific arrangement 
 which shall make quite clear his rights to the 
 future control of his contribution. The pub- 
 lishers of magazines usually make it a condi- 
 tion in purchasing an article, that it shall not 
 be reprinted within a specific time after its 
 publication in the magazine. Such a condi- 
 tion is equitable enough, but the author who 
 has further publishing plans for his material, 
 should assure himself that these plans are not 
 going to be interfered with or seriously ham- 
 pered by his arrangement with the magazine. 
 I have a case in mind in which an article was 
 accepted and paid for by a leading magazine, 
 but the publication of which was, on one 
 ground or another, delayed for a year or more. 
 The paper formed one of a series for the pub- 
 lication of which in book-form the author had 
 made a satisfactory arrangement. Under his 
 agreement with the magazine, he was, how- 
 ever, stopped from using the initial paper un- 
 til two months after its first publication. The 
 postponement for a year or more of the publi- 
 cation of his book was for him a very serious 
 matter, and in fact came near to bringing 
 about a cancellation of the arrangement he 
 had secured for the book publication. He 
 submitted a suggestion for the repurchase of 
 his paper from the magazine, but this the 
 magazine publishers declined to consider. It is 
 evident from a complication of this kind, that 
 
IPublisbing Hrrangements 93 
 
 an author who plans his material for publica- siensfcato 
 tion in more than one channel, needs to _ *"' , 
 assure himself very specifically as to the mcnte 
 conditions of each of his several publishing 
 arrangements. It might be in order to ar- 
 range, for instance, with the magazine pub- 
 lishers that if the article were not published 
 within a specified term of months, the author 
 should reserve the right of repurchasing it. 
 In the case of arrangements with syndicates 
 or with syndicating agents for the publication 
 of ari article or of a serial in a number of peri- 
 odicals (including possibly journals on both 
 sides of the Atlantic and in the British colo- 
 nies), there is, of course, a still greater neces- 
 sity for the author to assure himself that his 
 book-rights have been properly reserved and 
 that the serial publication will be made in 
 such a way as not to risk the forfeiture of his 
 copyrights, American, British, or Colonial. 
 The failure on the part of any one of the jour- 
 nals supplied by the syndicate to observe all 
 the conditions of the several copyright acts 
 (such as simultaneous publication, the print- 
 ing with each instalment of a correctly worded 
 copyright notice, the deposit of copies, etc.), 
 may bring about the forfeiture of copyright 
 protection for the volume and involve a loss 
 much greater than the gain from the payments 
 for the serial. The syndicate agency might, I 
 think, very properly be called upon to guaran- 
 
94 
 
 Hutbors nnX> publisbers 
 
 Bctlclee 
 in 
 
 (CtClopCa 
 
 Mai 
 
 tee and insure the proper fulfilment by its 
 customers of all the conditions requisite to 
 secure and to maintain the author's copyrights, 
 domestic and international. 
 
 It is the present general practice for the pub- 
 lishers to purchase the copyright and the full 
 publishing rights of the articles contributed to 
 encyclopaedias. Such articles have, in fact, 
 with rare exceptions, been " written to order " 
 at the instance or under the direction of the 
 editor of the work. With publications pos- 
 sessing the literary and the commercial im- 
 portance attaching to encyclopaedias of the 
 first class, the agreements with the contribut- 
 ors, and the receipts given by these for the 
 moneys paid, will unquestionably state spe- 
 cifically the ownership of the copyright and 
 of the publishing rights. If no such specifica- 
 tion had been put into writing, the authorities 
 would, I think, decide that, according to the 
 general usage in the case of undertakings of 
 this kind, the copyright and full control of an 
 article ordered and paid for by the publishers, 
 would be vested in them, and that in the ab- 
 sence of any specific agreement or restriction 
 to the contrary, the publishers would be at 
 liberty, in addition to printing the article in the 
 cyclopaedia, to re-issue it in any other form or 
 association that might seem to them desir- 
 able. 
 
 In the case of works like the great British 
 
pul)lt5bing Htrangements 
 
 95 
 
 Dictionary of National Biography, the articles 
 in which possess continued literary and com- 
 mercial value, the question of the right to re- 
 publish these articles is one of no little import- 
 ance. I judge, therefore, that a contributor 
 to a work of this kind who is not willing to 
 lose the future control of his article, or to per- 
 mit it to be used in any other form or associa- 
 tion than that of the cyclopaedia or dictionary 
 for which it was originally prepared, must be 
 careful to protect himself by a written agree- 
 ment or reservation. In case the author de- 
 sires to retain in his own hands the right 
 to reprint his article, it will be in order for 
 the publisher of the cyclopaedia to fix some 
 term of months or of years within which such 
 reprinting must not be done. Contingencies 
 may arise in which the author of a cyclopasdia 
 article, who has transferred in regular routine 
 the copyright and publishing rights, may still 
 claim to be entitled to some voice as to the 
 future disposition and association of his paper. 
 A case of this kind occurred recently, the de- 
 cision in which has, at the date of this writ- 
 ing, not been reached. A, who in 1895 is a 
 scientific writer of note and authority, con- 
 tributed, a number of years back, when his 
 work as a scientist was beginning, an article 
 on some subject of scientific research to a cy- 
 clopaedia which was then in course of publi- 
 cation. In accepting payment for his article 
 
 Ube 
 iEXctlonatii 
 
 of 
 Siograpbs 
 
96 
 
 Hutbots and publisbers 
 
 IftiSbtt 
 
 Ota 
 
 Oonttibuta 
 
 or to a 
 
 Csclopsa 
 
 »fa 
 
 from the publisher B, A understood that he 
 had parted with his copyright and with any 
 right himself to make further use of the mate- 
 rial. Publisher B fails, and the cyclopaedia for 
 a time goes out of the market. A number of 
 years later, publisher C purchases the plates 
 of the work, and, reprinting it with a few 
 changes and additions, advertises it as if it 
 were a new publication. He includes in his 
 list of contributors the name of the writer A, 
 a name which now possesses both scientific 
 and commercial value. The cyclopaedia is in 
 1895, at least in its scientific divisions, seri- 
 ously out of date and antiquated. The articles 
 as originally printed did not bear dates, and as 
 the title-page of the re-issue of the cyclopaedia 
 bears date 1895, the impression is given to the 
 buying public that the writers whose names 
 are advertised have prepared contributions 
 of recent date for a new work. A contends 
 that such an impression concerning his own 
 article, which was written a number of years 
 back, and which is at this time neither com- 
 plete nor accurate, is calculated to do injury to 
 his scientific standing and to the commercial 
 value of his future writings. He demands 
 that his article be cancelled from the re-issue 
 of this work, and, failing the cancellation, that 
 the date of its production shall be placed 
 against the article itself and against the name 
 of its writer in the list of contributors. 
 
IPubUsbfng Hrransements 97 
 
 Such a contention seems reasonable and ube 
 equitable, but it is doubtful whether the author '*^^f^' 
 will be able to enforce it against publisher C, (tontribut. 
 who is by purchase and assignment the owner ^'^jp^, 
 ofall rights in the material. Ifan author wishes wa 
 to protect himself against a contingency of this 
 kind, it will probably be necessary for him to 
 make some specific reservation or agreement 
 at the time he accepts the commission for the 
 preparation of an article for a cyclopaedia. 
 
 It is to be noted that the injury complained 
 of in the case cited is not to the property 
 rights but to the personal rights of the author. 
 The right of publication does not carry with 
 it, however, the author's rights. The pur- 
 chaser of the article can claim control only 
 quoad exercitium, not quoad jus. 
 
98 
 
 tlons 
 
 ©bUd^tfons un&er tbe publtsbing 
 agreement. 
 
 Ttbe 'T'HE publishing contract contains, in addi 
 
 1 tion to the provisions specifying the 
 ottbe obligations assumed by the publisher, further 
 Butboc provisions constituting obligations on the 
 part of the author. He agrees to complete 
 certain literary work, and agrees, either spe- 
 cifically or by implication, that such work 
 shall be up to a certain literary standard by 
 which his previous productions have been 
 characterized, and which the publisher who 
 places the commission in his hands has a right 
 to expect. The author agrees, further, that 
 the work shall be completed either within a 
 certain term, the date of which is specified in 
 the contract, or, by implication, within a rea- 
 sonable time. It is further understood that 
 the "copy" as presented by the author for 
 the work of the typesetters shall be in its 
 finally revised and completed form, and shall 
 be sufficiently legible to constitute what would 
 be known in the printing office as "fair copy." 
 
Obligations 
 
 99 
 
 Finally, the author agrees to read the proofs uue 
 of his book and (as a rule) to prepare the ^^l^,^ 
 index. caicu. 
 
 The payments or royalties which the pub- '""''"'' 
 lisher is to pay under the provisions of the 
 agreement are given in consideration of the 
 performance by the author in good faith (and 
 in accordance with the standard of literary 
 quality upon which his own literary repute 
 may be supposed to depend) of the several 
 obligations set forth in the contract. In addi- 
 tion to the direct payments to be made by 
 the publisher as consideration for the literary 
 production, or for the use of such production, 
 the publisher has agreed to provide for certain 
 expenditures in manufacturing the book, in 
 advertising it, and in placing it and keeping it 
 in the market. Before entering upon the un- 
 dertaking, he has, according to usual routine, 
 made up certain calculations showing what is 
 the total of the outlay to be provided for, and 
 of the labor that will be required from himself 
 and from his assistants, and against these 
 items he estimates (of course, at the best but 
 approximately) what returns can be secured 
 from the sales. 
 
 If he did not believe, with the figures of this 
 calculation before him, that there was at least 
 a fair prospect of securing from the sales a 
 sufficient return to offset the amount of his 
 outlays, and to give him, above this amount, 
 
100 Hutbors anD ipublisbcrs 
 
 Vbc enough profit to repay him for the use and for 
 i^UKBt ^^^ "^^ °^ '^'^ capital and for his own personal 
 in tbe service, the undertaking would, on the whole, 
 ®"" seem to him an undesirable venture, and 
 would not be entered upon. As a matter of 
 fact, however carefully these preliminary cal- 
 culations may be gone through with, a very 
 large proportion of publishing undertakings 
 do, as before stated, fail to secure suificient 
 returns to cover the amount of the actual out- 
 lay, irrespective of any interest for the use of 
 the capital or of any compensation for the 
 publisher's services. 
 
 As before explained, in the cases in which 
 the author has to receive a fixed or guaranteed 
 payment for his production, his interest in the 
 result of the sales (whether these be satisfac- 
 tory or the reverse) is but indirect. Under 
 the royalty arrangement and the other forms 
 of arrangements in which his compensation is 
 made contingent upon or proportioned to the 
 sales, his business interest is as direct as that 
 of the publisher in having these sales sufficient 
 to return the outlay together with a substan- 
 tial excess in the shape of profits. 
 
 I want to point out, however, that the pub- 
 lishing calculation upon which the whole un- 
 dertaking has been based depends upon the 
 substantial accuracy of the figures arrived at 
 for the cost of production. If for instance, 
 the author has agreed to prepare for a series 
 
©bligations 
 
 of books the volumes of which are sold at 
 fixed prices, and the size of which must there- 
 fore be substantially uniform, a work contain- 
 ing fifty thousand words ; and if his narrative 
 has extended itself to one hundred thousand 
 words and he insists that it is not practicable 
 to curtail it without destroying its entire liter- 
 ary proportion and value, the publisher is at 
 once met with the problem of printing a book 
 that must be sold at $i.oo, and that is, never- 
 theless, to contain an amount of material 
 which ought to be sold for not less than $i. 50. 
 At first thought, it would hardly seem pos- 
 sible that an author to whom has been sub- 
 mitted, before he begins work upon his volume, 
 the specific scheme of the series in which it is 
 to find place, and whose contract even speci- 
 fies the precise character desired for his work, 
 should be heedless enough to bring to com- 
 pletion a narrative that was of an unsuitable 
 character which could not be harmonized 
 with the rest of the series. The contract also 
 specifies the amount of matter (/. e. number 
 of thousand words) to be contained in the 
 volumes, the specification being given with 
 a maximum and minimum limit, leaving 
 a margin of a few thousand words. With 
 these figures before him, an author ought 
 not to permit himself to shape a book so 
 different in compass that it cannot be 
 printed in a uniform series with the other 
 
 Ube 
 
 of a 
 
 VubUsbs 
 
 ing lAntece 
 
 tailing 
 
102 
 
 autbors an6 publisbers 
 
 ■Cbe 
 
 ments for 
 
 tbe 
 Butbor 
 
 volumes, and that, when sold at the price an- 
 nounced in advance, will bring loss instead 
 of profit. It would also seem hardly probable 
 that an author, having been so regardless of 
 the preliminary conditions laid down for his 
 work, should, when this work was com- 
 pleted, be so unreasonable as to insist that his 
 volume must be accepted in the precise form 
 in which he has written it; that, whatever the 
 conditions or the limitations of the series, his 
 own individual literary methods and literary 
 execution must not be interfered with; and 
 that (his own compensation being assured 
 under some fixed payment arrangement) the 
 question of possible profit or loss for the pub- 
 lisher is a matter concerning which he need 
 give himself no concern. Improbable as such 
 a state of mind or such a method of action ap- 
 pears to be, as thus set forth, 1 can only say 
 that the experience of nearly all publishers and 
 editors who have had to do with the publica- 
 tion of series, will show not a few examples 
 of just such literary perversities. 
 
 A second detail in which the original calcu- 
 lation can be set at naught is the practice on 
 the part of certain authors of rewriting or 
 reshaping their narratives to a considerable 
 extent after the material has been put into type. 
 It is perfectly possible for an author whose 
 brilliant thoughts come to him by degrees, or 
 whose accuracy in regard to statements only 
 
 ± 
 
Obligations 
 
 103 
 
 begins to cause him anxiety when he sees 
 these statements in type, to reshape his work 
 when it comes to him in the form of proofs to 
 such an extent as to double or very largely to 
 increase the cost of the typesetting. If, in the 
 original calculation, it has been estimated that 
 $500 must be provided for putting the volume 
 into type, an expenditure for this item of $750 
 will of necessity throw the calculation out by 
 the amount of the excess, and the possibility 
 of profit will be proportionately reduced. 
 
 Against this troublesome risk of expense un- 
 der the heading of " extra corrections," that is 
 to say, of changes in the author's text after 
 this text has been put into type, the publish- 
 ers endeavor to protect themselves in various 
 ways, and such attempts are, of course, in the 
 interest of the business results of the under- 
 taking, and, in more ways than one, in the 
 interest of the author himself. Provisions are 
 inserted in the contracts under which the cost 
 of such " extra corrections " is to be borne by 
 the author himself, on the assumption that he 
 has agreed to deliver copy in readiness for the 
 typesetters, and that he ought to have carried 
 out his agreement. Sometimes, in the case of 
 material presenting special difficulties, an al- 
 lowance is made under the heading of "ex- 
 tra corrections," by means of which a portion 
 of the cost of these is assumed by the pub- 
 lisher. A further help is given under present 
 
 Sftca 
 
 Correcta 
 
 fon« 
 
104 
 
 Hutbocs anD ipublisbers 
 
 Butbots' 
 
 Cora 
 tections 
 
 methods by insisting that the author shall 
 have in his hands for revision, before the vol- 
 ume goes to the typesetters, a clean typewrit- 
 ten copy, and that he shall expend upon these 
 typewritten pages all his desires for improve- 
 ments, changes, or corrections. 
 
 An author will sometimes (and not unnatu- 
 rally) take the ground that it is unreasonable 
 for a publisher to object to having corrections 
 made in the proof and to assuming the cost of 
 such corrections, because the whole purpose 
 of them is "to make the book more complete 
 or more accurate and therefore more valu- 
 able." The rejoinder is, of course, a very 
 simple one, and has been indicated in the 
 above reference to the publisher's preliminary 
 calculations upon the basis of which the un- 
 dertaking has been entered upon. A publica- 
 tion which at a given expenditure could be 
 reasonably expected to return a profit on the 
 investment, might very easily, in case this 
 expenditure were to be materially increased, 
 prove to be, from a business point of view, an 
 undesirable venture. It is, therefore, not prac- 
 ticable to leave in the hands of the author the 
 determination of so important an item of the 
 outlay as that of the typesetting. Some re- 
 striction or limitation is evidently necessary. 
 The safest and most educational restriction, 
 from a publisher's point of view, is to provide 
 that the cost of these later changes or extra 
 
©bligations 
 
 105 
 
 corrections shall be borne in toto by the 
 author. An almost certain result of such a 
 regulation is that an author who has paid 
 such a charge for changes in his first book 
 is much more careful to present for his second, 
 " copy " finally revised and complete. Some 
 modification of such an arrangement is, how- 
 ever, as before suggested, proper enough un- 
 der certain special conditions or for works of 
 an exceptional character. 
 
 The third detail that is to be considered in 
 treating of the obligations entered into by the 
 author is the time within which his work is 
 to be completed. It is occasionally found 
 practicable to insert in the contract a specific 
 date or term of months or years within which 
 the author undertakes to place in the hands 
 of the publisher the completed work in readi- 
 ness for the typesetters. In the great majority 
 of such publishing contracts, however, it is 
 not found advisable to insert any such date, 
 partly because literary or scientific work can- 
 not, as a rule, be executed with the same pre- 
 cision of time calculation as is possible for 
 a house or a bridge, and partly because, even 
 if the date were inserted, the publisher has 
 very seldom available any means for compel- 
 ling the author to abide by such a condition. 
 This last point will be touched upon again. 
 
 It Avill be easily understood, however, that, 
 with all literary undertakings, the date when 
 
 Butbot'8 
 
 ®bli> 
 gatfons 
 for tbc 
 
 Com> 
 pletfon 
 
 St big 
 
 Sooli 
 
io6 Hutbors an5 puWisbers 
 
 xtst the publisher can plan to put the book in the 
 Beia*» hands of the typesetters, and later into the 
 market for sale, is a very material element 
 indeed in the business calculations upon 
 which the undertaking has been based. With 
 a certain class of publications, in fact, the 
 practicability of having the book in readiness 
 for a given season may be so important as to 
 constitute a determining factor in the decision 
 to place the commission for its preparation in 
 the hands of one author rather than of an- 
 other. It happens frequently enough in the 
 record of publishing that, in connection with 
 some special trend of public interest, two or 
 more publishers may be planning different 
 works on the same general subject, or on dif- 
 ferent phases of such subject. Publisher A, 
 whose author, realizing the requirement of the 
 case, has kept faith in the undertaking, and 
 has completed his work at the time agreed 
 upon, will secure for his book the first public 
 demand, which is, as a rule, by far the largest 
 portion of such demand. Publisher B comes 
 before the public some time later with a more 
 or less similar book, and finds that the inter- 
 est of the readers has been in great part sup- 
 plied. The second volume may represent as 
 large an amount of skilled labor as has been 
 put into the first, and may also have involved 
 as considerable an investment of capital. The 
 prospect, however, of securing for this invest- 
 
iS>l)Ifgations 107 
 
 ment a remunerative return has been very xom 
 seriously impaired, if not altogether destroyed, *^J™«]' 
 by the delay on the part of the author. 
 
 In another class of cases, the public question 
 itself may have passed by, while in a matter 
 of scientific investigation the results of some 
 later investigations may have been brought 
 into print. There are, in fact, a great many 
 influences which will go to destroy the trust- 
 worthiness of the original publishing calcula- 
 tions, if one factor in these calculations, the 
 time within which the work is to be com- 
 pleted, cannot be depended upon. The 
 publisher has been misled into making an in- 
 vestment which ought not to have been made 
 unless he could depend upon his author. 
 
 This class of calculation comes up for the 
 most part only in connection with books 
 which have been suggested by the publisher 
 himself. The instance, however, sometimes 
 occurs of an author bringing to a publisher 
 the plan of a work which calls for a consider- 
 able outlay, and inducing the pubhsher to 
 make the investment on the strength of the 
 knowledge claimed to be possessed by the 
 author himself of a special class of require- 
 ments which this particular book will meet 
 "better than any work in existence," and 
 which will insure for the proposed volume a 
 remunerative circle of buyers. Before, how- 
 ever, the author completes his share of the 
 
io8 
 
 Hutbors anb ©ubUsbers 
 
 Soots 
 (n 
 
 undertaking, some other work is brought into 
 the market which supplies in substance the 
 requirements specified, and so far curtails the 
 possible demand for the book first put in train 
 that the publication of this results in loss 
 instead of in profit. If the author has arranged 
 to receive for his labor a guaranteed pay- 
 ment, and if the loss of the market and of the 
 opportunity for sale has been due to the 
 author's own lack of precision and of reason- 
 able promptness in completing his work and 
 in supervising its passage through the press, 
 the publisher certainly has a reasonable ground 
 for complaint. 
 
 A considerable proportion of the books 
 which are written at the instance or suggest- 
 ion of the publisher are those which are 
 issued in series ; such undertakings as the 
 English Men of Letters series, the Inter- 
 national Science series, the Stories of the 
 Nations, the Heroes of the Nations, have been 
 planned by the publishers, and the volumes 
 contributed to them are for the most part the 
 work of contributors who have been selected 
 by the publishers or by their editors. The in- 
 structions or specifications given to a con- 
 tributor at the time the arrangement for his 
 volume is completed, set forth the general 
 character which the narrative should possess, 
 its compass, that is to say, the number of 
 words it should contain, and the date (stated 
 
(Pbligations 109 
 
 either precisely or approximately) when it sooiis 
 should be completed. '" 
 
 A publisher, having in train a series which is 
 to comprise from twelve to fifty volumes, finds 
 it essential to arrange that the several volumes 
 shall be delivered to him at convenient inter- 
 vals, which will enable attention to be given 
 with reasonable promptness to putting through 
 the press each volume after it is delivered. It 
 is, of course, undesirable both for the general 
 repute of the series and for its commercial suc- 
 cess that there should be any very long gaps 
 between the several volumes. The readers 
 who have begun to purchase the series must 
 not be allowed to get the impression that it 
 has ceased publication, or that the publishers 
 have lost their interest in it. While a precise 
 regularity of publication is, as a rule, not prac- 
 ticable, the volumes ought to appear at inter- 
 vals so near together that the publishers can 
 announce a given number of volumes to be in 
 readiness within a term of, say, twelve months. 
 It is equally inconvenient, after a considerable 
 lapse or delay in the appearance of volumes, 
 for the publisher to receive from a number of 
 contributors at one time a larger group of 
 manuscripts than can be conveniently or 
 effectively handled at once. When an author 
 has placed his manuscript in the hands of the 
 publisher, he is, as a rule, very urgent for im- 
 mediate attention on the part of the typesetters 
 
autbors an5 publlsbers 
 
 ube and the printers. The longer he has delayed 
 
 *■'"' his own work, the more likely is he to be ex- 
 
 oftbe acting m regard to promptness of attention 
 
 Butbot jn the publishing office. If, however, eight 
 
 or ten books for one series should come into 
 
 the office together, it is, as a rule, absolutely 
 
 impracticable to put them all at once into the 
 
 hands of the printers, while even if they could 
 
 by any means all be delivered together from 
 
 the manufacturing department, it would be 
 
 absolutely "bad business" to publish them at 
 
 once. Some of them would have to be held 
 
 over until the regular publishing intervals 
 
 could again be arranged for. 
 
 This explanation will make clear the im- 
 portance of securing as contributors for such 
 series authors who can be relied upon to give 
 some consideration to the business require- 
 ments, and whose word in regard to the com- 
 pletion of the volumes entrusted to them can 
 be accepted without the necessity for any 
 very large measure of allowance. Every pub- 
 lisher, however, who has carried to its com- 
 pletion an undertaking of this kind, has on 
 his books the records of not a few authors 
 who have shown themselves utterly regard- 
 less of this phase of their obligations. An 
 author will accept a commission for a volume 
 on some subject on which he is considered 
 an authority, and will have explained to him 
 the nature of the series for which his volume 
 
(^blfdatfons 
 
 is to be prepared, while the contract signed ube 
 by him will set forth the several requirements ®''"' 
 previously referred to. Without, as a rule, ""tb7 
 agreeing to a specific term within which he ^"*'"« 
 promises to deliver his book, the author does 
 accept the general statement as to a reasona- 
 ble time, and he usually gives to the publisher 
 some estimate or calculation as to what that 
 time will be, an estimate which is of necessity 
 based partly upon the nature and the extent 
 of the subject-matter to be considered and 
 partly upon any previous similar engagements 
 to which he may already have bound him- 
 self. Not a few authors will, however, per- 
 mit a series of years to go by without fulfilling 
 an obligation of this kind. The publisher has 
 been precluded by his agreement from giving 
 the commission to some other writer, although 
 during the years which have passed since the 
 execution of the contract, suggestions may 
 have come to him from more capable and from 
 more valuable men who were willing to under- 
 take the task. The continuity of the series is 
 interfered with, the completion of its original 
 plan is hampered and marred, and its value as a 
 property is lessened. The author whose con- 
 tribution was expected to form a material ad- 
 dition to the value of the series as a whole has, 
 through his heedlessness and his failure to recog- 
 nize the nature of his obligation, done not a little 
 to interfere with the success of the undertaking. 
 
 
autbors an& publisbers 
 
 ube The author may defend himself on the 
 
 cbifa ground that he has never contracted to com- 
 oi the plete his volume by a specified date. There 
 Hutbot j^ag^ however, as a rule, been a substantial 
 understanding between himself and the pub- 
 lisher as to a certain limit within which the 
 work would be delivered. The author would 
 hardly contend that the omission of a date in 
 the agreement would leave him free to wait 
 for a quarter of a century for instance, or that 
 the tender of a volume twenty years or more 
 after the series for which it had been planned 
 was completed, would constitute what the 
 stockbrokers call a "good delivery." In any 
 such agreement something must, of course, be 
 left to the good faith and to the reasonableness 
 of the contracting parties. The fact that the 
 publisher has thought himself justified in 
 placing confidence in the author's word and 
 has not included in the contract a stipulation 
 that would give him a remedy at law, is a 
 defence that would of course hardly be main- 
 tained by a man of honor. 
 
 1 recall to mind, however, cases (of which I 
 have first-hand knowledge) in which authors 
 who had expected to deliver their books 
 within two years, or at the furthest, three 
 years, have held the commission in their 
 hands for six, seven, and eight years before 
 the discouraged publisher has thought it 
 necessary to cancel the contract and to make 
 
©bUgatlons 113 
 
 other arrangements. In one of these cases se. 
 the author had had the commission placed in ^utbow 
 his hands when he was still a young student, 
 comparatively unknown to the general public. 
 As his attainments and his responsibilities in- 
 creased, he found himself interested in other 
 directions and decided that the easiest way of 
 getting out of his early obligation was simply 
 to delay doing what he had promised to do, 
 until "the party of the second part" should 
 decide to give up the undertaking. In an- 
 other instance, an author who had waited six 
 years without taking any measures to make 
 good his obligation, accepted later commis- 
 sions from other publishers and completed for 
 these publishers the books promised to them 
 without any apparent realization of the fact 
 that he was committing a breach of contract 
 .with the publisher who had first placed trust 
 in his word. In both of these instances the 
 authors held responsible University positions. 
 In a third case an author who possessed 
 authoritative knowledge on a technical and 
 scientific subject was engaged, on terms 
 satisfactory to himself, to prepare a work of 
 reference on this subject which was to be 
 completed in ten volumes. Three volumes 
 were prepared for the press and were pub- 
 lished in due course. For the fourth volume 
 (as a favor to the author and unfortunately as 
 it proved for the final history of the undertak- 
 
114 
 
 Hutbors anO pubUsbers 
 
 Sea 
 Ifnauent 
 Butbors 
 
 ing), the publishers rashly advanced to the 
 author the amount of the compensation agreed 
 upon. Since the date of such advance (now 
 eleven years ago), the author has failed either to 
 deliver the material for the volume for which 
 he has been paid or to deliver any further 
 material whatever. He has accepted and has 
 presumably been paid for other commissions, 
 and probably still classes himself as a reput- 
 able citizen. He has given no reason for his 
 delinquency and no question has ever arisen 
 concerning the facts of the agreement or the 
 nature of the responsibilities accepted by the 
 author under this agreement. The subscrib- 
 ers to the work have had good reason for 
 complaint against both its English and Ameri- 
 can publishers, on the ground that they were 
 left with a fragment when they had been 
 promised a complete series. They had been 
 called upon, to be sure, to make payment 
 only for the three volumes delivered, but they 
 contended (and with reason) that the three 
 volumes had trifling value unless the set were 
 to be completed. These subscribers had in 
 fact a fair claim aganst the English and 
 American publishers for the refunding of 
 the amounts paid by them. 
 
 In a fourth instance, a manuscript of a 
 work prepared by an author for a series, was 
 returned to the author in order to have certain 
 omissions supplied and to have a final chapter 
 
Obligations 
 
 "5 
 
 added. Until this additional material had been 
 prepared, the work did not fulfil the specifi- 
 cations of the agreement. On the first delivery 
 of the manuscript the author had received a 
 substantial proportion of the compensation 
 arranged for. The publisher was obliged to 
 wait for three years before he could recover 
 his manuscript. He was thankful then to be 
 able to get hold of it still incomplete and re- 
 quiring, before it could be put to press, 
 further labor on the part of another writer. 
 
 Another method by which an author can 
 do injustice to the publisher for whom he has 
 prepared a volume, is to put into the market, 
 within some brief term after the publication 
 of the first book, another work which has to 
 do with the same subject-matter. Such 
 second volume may be an expansion of the 
 narrative contained in the first, in which case 
 the rival publisher will be able to advertise 
 it as "the complete and final work by its 
 distinguished author" on this particular sub- 
 ject. Or it may be a briefer statement of the 
 same thesis, taking the form of a condensa- 
 tion or popularization of the original work. 
 Such a volume will also give to its publisher 
 an opportunity for an announcement or an 
 advertisement that will interfere to a greater 
 or less extent with the standing before the 
 public of the first book. It may in fact have 
 been through the book first published that the 
 
 liitQuent 
 Butboci 
 
ii6 
 
 Hutbors and publisbers 
 
 OooA 
 
 fn 
 
 Baceca 
 mcnta 
 
 author has won his original reputation, as far 
 as the general public is concerned, as an 
 authority on the subject-matter. Rival pub- 
 lishers will be very ready to take advantage 
 of this reputation in one way or another, and 
 the decision must of necessity rest with the 
 author himself as to how far he may continue 
 the production of volumes on this special sub- 
 ject without interfering with the obligations 
 assumed by him in connection with the first 
 book. 
 
 Of course, I do not mean to say that an 
 author having once come before the public 
 with a volume on his own subject, is thereby 
 estopped from publishing anything further on 
 this subject. There must of necessity be not 
 a few grades of possible competition. The 
 second book may interfere with the first not at 
 all, while it may entirely kill its sale and bring 
 to the original publisher the feeling that his 
 confidence has been abused. The very fact 
 that the contingency is one that it would be 
 difficult to provide against completely in the 
 most carefully worded agreements, increases 
 the necessity for a large measure of good faith 
 on the part of the author who has executed 
 such a commission. I am writing this 
 paragraph with the remembrance of two or 
 three instances that have come to my personal 
 knowledge within the last few years in which 
 such good faith has not been maintained. 
 
Obligations 
 
 117 
 
 The publishers whose confidence has been 
 abused would have found it difficult to show 
 ground for action in a court of law, but they 
 would have had no difficulty in making clear 
 to a board of literary arbitrators that an in- 
 justice had been done to them. 
 
 1 recall a further case in which a publishing 
 House entered into an arrangement with a 
 young author who had done brilliant and 
 promising work, to make a substantial annual 
 payment, in consideration of which payment 
 the publisher was to have the control of all 
 the literary output of the author during each 
 year of the agreement. The result of the first 
 year of the arrangement was that the author 
 produced practically nothing. He drew his 
 stipend, and gave in exchange no consider- 
 ation. At the end of the first year, the agree- 
 ment was very naturally terminated, and the 
 productions of the author for the succeeding 
 two years, productions which included some 
 of his most successful work, were placed in the 
 hands of a rival House. It is, I think, fair to 
 assume that, in this case, the author had no 
 deliberate intention of taking money without 
 consideration. He was an unsystematic and 
 procrastinating man, who had always had 
 trouble with his personal balance-sheet, and 
 who had (like Edgar Poe, and not a few other 
 brilliant writers) produced some of his most 
 effective work under the pressure of urgent 
 
 Rn 
 
 ■Unwise 
 dBetboa 
 
 ot 
 
 Competia 
 
 cation 
 
ii8 
 
 autbors an& ipublisbers 
 
 s)ftncuit<c« 
 
 oftbe 
 Ipublisbers 
 
 need of funds. When the stimulus was re- 
 moved, his mind refused to work effectively, 
 and the result was loss for his too trusting 
 publisher, and (we may hope) mortification 
 for himself. Such an arrangement was in 
 fact bad both in principle and in practice, and 
 the publisher deserved to lose his money for 
 his bad judgment. 
 
 These instances, specimens of what might 
 easily be made a very long list, are mentioned 
 not for the purpose of suggesting that authors 
 are more likely than other men to prove re- 
 gardless of their obligations, but to indicate 
 some of the difficulties to which publishers 
 are exposed in entering into agreements or 
 contracts with literary men. In such con- 
 tracts the obligations assumed by the publish- 
 ers are very clearly set forth ; and in case these 
 obligations may not be fulfilled, in case, for 
 instance, the payments specified are not made, 
 the author has a very simple remedy. He 
 places his case in the hands of his solicitor 
 and the moneys due are collected under the 
 ordinary routine of the law. 
 
 It is, however, not practicable to utilize the 
 machinery of the law to compel an author to 
 carry out his part of the agreement. The 
 authority of no court would be sufficient to 
 force a dilatory or unwilling author to write a 
 book that he had agreed to write, and even 
 if he should go through with the form of 
 
Obligations 
 
 119 
 
 obeying an order of the court to such effect, 
 it is hardly probable that the book written 
 under such special circumstances would be a 
 satisfactory literary production or would se- 
 cure a commercial success. Moreover, even 
 if the publisher might have his agreement so 
 worded that he would be in a position to 
 secure its enforcement under the law, it is not 
 probable that such a course would be for him 
 a wise business policy. Such procedure on 
 his part might very easily raise against him in 
 literary circles a prejudice or antagonism that 
 would cause more serious injury to his busi- 
 ness interests than that which could be 
 brought upon him through the delinquency 
 of any one author. 
 
 Contracts between authors and publishers 
 are therefore of necessity very largely one- 
 sided, and the publisher must at the best de- 
 pend in the main upon the good faith, the 
 fairness of dealing, and a reasonable under- 
 standing of business requirements, on the 
 part of the author. 
 
 This special feature of publishers' contracts 
 is worth calling attention to at a time when 
 the authors are organizing themselves on both 
 sides of the Atlantic for the purpose of de- 
 fending their rights as producers and of secur- 
 ing a larger measure of return for their literary 
 labors. These organizations of literary work- 
 ers are to be welcomed on more grounds than 
 
 lacl! 
 
 of 
 
 f>owec 
 
 to 
 £nfocce 
 Oonttactg 
 
120 autbors an& publisbers 
 
 waiue one. The literary producers, and particularly 
 *° the younger authors, ought to have, in be- 
 of ginning their business operations, the full 
 organf. advantage of the experience of other literary 
 men whose works have already been placed 
 upon the market under a variety of publishing 
 arrangements. They ought to be protected, 
 as far as may be practicable, against the mis- 
 management of incompetent business agents 
 and against the misstatements and wrong- 
 doing of untrustworthy managers. The au- 
 thor ought to secure the fullest and most 
 specific information concerning his rights and 
 concerning the average market value of his 
 work, and he ought to be able to feel as- 
 sured that for this work he obtains the full- 
 est net returns that are practicable under the 
 existing literary and publishing conditions. 
 
 On the other hand, in ascertaining his rights, 
 he should also ascertain and be prepared 
 faithfully to carry out his obligations. If the 
 old personal publishing relation, with its many 
 attractions and with its various disadvantages, 
 is to disappear, and if this is to be replaced by 
 a well-defined business system of purchase 
 and sale, of contracts arrived at under the 
 varying conditions of the market, and of pub- 
 lishing agreements requiring in the case of 
 each book the service of brokers and solicit- 
 ors, there ought at least to be the final ad- 
 vantage of a clearly specified business relation 
 
©bligations 
 
 121 
 
 in which each party should accept definite 
 obligations, and in which there should be 
 some means of enforcing for each party the 
 due fulfilment of such obligations. 
 
 I trust that it may at some time prove prac- 
 ticable to establish a kind of literary court or 
 board of arbitration, before which court could 
 be brought the various questions and issues 
 that arise between publisher and author. The 
 most important of the issues to be considered 
 in this way would be of the class previously 
 referred to, which, while distinct breaches of 
 good faith or of justice, are not of necessity 
 infringements of contract or breaches of law. 
 
 Such a court or commission might be in- 
 stituted under the joint action of a society 
 of authors and a publishers' association. It 
 could utilize for legal requirements the services 
 of counsel who had interested themselves in 
 the law of literature, and who had familiarized 
 themselves with the conditions and the pre- 
 cedents of publishing. The fees charged to 
 the contesting parties should prove sufficient 
 to secure adequate compensation for the best 
 services on the part both of the lawyers and 
 of the expert laymen, whose time was also of 
 value. It is probable that a mere fraction of 
 the amounts that would be required to put 
 through an English or an American court an 
 ordinary case of infringement or breach of 
 contract, or of difference of opinion as to the 
 
 IRfgbts 
 
 ®blf9 
 gatfone 
 
122 
 
 Hutbors anO ipublfsbers 
 
 Xlterars 
 Courts 
 
 interpretation of a contract, would be amply 
 sufficient to provide the needful compensation 
 for counsel and for arbiters. In not a few 
 cases, the services of counsel could in fact 
 propably be dispensed with, as the contest- 
 ing parties would be perfectly capable of 
 submitting the statements of their respective 
 contentions. 
 
 I am convinced that the authority of such a 
 court could be made of very material service 
 in lessening friction and differences of opinion 
 between literary workers and their business 
 representatives, while from a personal point 
 of view, I should attach a special importance 
 to the value of such a court for the interests of 
 the publisher, because it is the case, as pre- 
 viously pointed out, that the publisher is, un- 
 der present conditions, comparatively helpless 
 in securing from the other party to his pub- 
 lishing contracts the same measure of obedi- 
 ence that can nearly always be enforced 
 against himself. 
 
 I judge, also, that the series of decisions that 
 would be secured from the court in the course 
 of a few years, should constitute a most valua- 
 ble body of precedents that would come to 
 form a system of literary and of publishing 
 relations, and would be accepted as the law 
 controlling these relations. Such a system 
 would have as a certain effect the weeding 
 out of irresponsible and untrustworthy pub- 
 
©bUgations 123 
 
 Ushers, and the development of a larger meas- uterars 
 ure of business knowledge and of a sense of ^"'^'^^ 
 business responsibility on the part of authors. 
 It should also bring about a cessation or a 
 material diminution of vague charges and 
 groundless complaints (complaints which are 
 very largely due to heedless ignorance of the 
 real conditions and limitations of the business 
 of publishing books), and, in lessening very 
 much the causes and the possibility of disputes 
 and issues, should place on a satisfactory 
 foundation the relations between authors and 
 publishers. 
 
124 
 
 tibe Xiterarg Hgent 
 
 Xftecars 
 Bgent 
 
 DURING the past few years a new factor 
 has found place in publishing under- 
 takings. The business of making arrange- 
 ments on behalf of the authors has to a certain 
 extent been placed in the hands of brokers 
 who describe their occupation as that of liter- 
 ary agents. These agents undertake to find a 
 market for literary productions in somewhat 
 the same manner in which real-estate brokers 
 will arrange to find purchasers for blocks of 
 land, or brokers in securities will, for a con- 
 sideration, bring about transactions between 
 the sellers and the buyers of bonds or shares. 
 There are certain very evident advantages 
 to an author in placing his business interests 
 in the hands of such an agent. If he can 
 secure the services of a broker whose reports 
 may be accepted as trustworthy, he can have 
 the assurance that without any labor or dis- 
 tasteful personal applications or correspond- 
 ence on his own part, the literary market for 
 his particular class of productions will be ade- 
 
Ube Xiterarg Hgent 
 
 "S 
 
 quately tested at the time when he has a work 
 to dispose of. There is both a personal satis- 
 faction and a business advantage in the assur- 
 ance that the proposition secured by the agent 
 for a purchase of the copyright or for a pub- 
 lishing contract on some other basis, represents 
 the most advantageous arrangement, and will 
 bring to the producer the largest return that is 
 at that time practicable for the work in ques- 
 tion. Authors who distrust their own busi- 
 ness knowledge or business capacity, and 
 who have a personal distaste for the task of 
 making bargains, feel that they secure in a 
 service of this kind an advantage that is very 
 well worth the cost of the agent's commission. 
 The agent's operations assume a larger range 
 of importance in the cases of books for which 
 international and transatlantic arrangements 
 are to be made. Such arrangements involve a 
 large amount of correspondence and, to be in- 
 telligently carried out, presuppose a know- 
 ledge of and an experience with the publishing 
 conditions and the publishing possibilities of 
 foreign countries. The work of the agent is 
 naturally of the greatest service and import- 
 ance in the case of fiction, and the increasing 
 practice of making sale through syndicates, for 
 publication as serials in groups of periodicals, 
 of stories whose character fits them for such 
 use, has made this branch of the literary 
 agent's business almost essential for authors 
 
 Setvice 
 
 to 
 Butbors 
 
126 
 
 Hutbors an& puDlisbers 
 
 Ssnbb 
 
 eating 
 
 Hccanges 
 
 ments 
 
 who are interested in the production of serial 
 stories. 
 
 The possibility of utilizing a story in ad- 
 vance of its publication in book-form, simul- 
 taneously in an English and in an American 
 magazine, or of making sale of the same 
 through newspaper syndicates to groups of 
 county papers on either side of the Atlantic 
 and in the British Colonies, has added very 
 largely to the receipts of writers of successful 
 fiction. There is also an increase in the in- 
 terest of the readers of Continental journals in 
 English and American fiction for translations 
 of which arrangements can be made, and the 
 extension of International Copyright, first 
 under the Berne Convention throughout the 
 states of Europe, and later under the American 
 Act of 1 89 1, between the United States and 
 the larger portion of the states of Europe, has 
 furthered very much the sale of good fiction in 
 countries outside of the country of its origin. 
 While this demand has largely increased, it is 
 fair to report that the supply of fiction offered 
 for the purpose is increasing very much more 
 rapidly and is at present largely in excess 
 of the purchasing power of the syndicates, 
 and of the publishing facilities of individual 
 periodicals. 
 
 For the work, however, of ascertaining what 
 can be done in the matter of securing a serial 
 sale of stories, the service of the literary agent 
 
TLbc Xiterars Hgent 127 
 
 is not only useful but is almost indispensable. jfictiott 
 It is fair to point out also that, apart from the g]!',^, 
 business advantages secured from him for his som 
 clients the authors, he is doing a certain in- 
 direct or general service in furthering the 
 development of international literary arrange- 
 ments, and in emphasizing the principle that 
 the production and the distribution of litera- 
 ture should not be restricted by political 
 boundaries. 
 
 There is, however, another side to the work 
 of these literary agencies and there are certain 
 considerations which ought not to be lost sight 
 of by intelligent authors who are disposed to 
 place in the hands of agents the entire control 
 of their publishing relations. First, a writer 
 who is devoting himself to authorship as a 
 profession, should, of course, so shape his un- 
 dertakings that they shall produce for him as 
 an entirety and during the whole term of 
 their copyright existence, the largest possible 
 aggregate of returns. The wise author who 
 has studied carefully his relations with the 
 book-buying public, will understand that his 
 books should be handled not each for itself, 
 but together, as parts of a literary property of 
 continuous and, it is to be hoped, of increas- 
 ing value. An author whose work is done 
 with a certain degree of regularity (as was the 
 case, for instance, with Trollope) may produce, 
 say, one book a year. A more rapid produc- 
 
128 
 
 Hutbors an& publisbers 
 
 Certain 
 
 a&x>anta0C9 
 Incucceb 
 tbrougb 
 
 tbetUeof 
 Bflcnts 
 
 tion, while occasionally practicable, has not 
 infrequently meant, in the history of literature, 
 work more or less hasty, lacking in literary 
 finish, and not doing full justice to the author's 
 own standard. A production at a much slower 
 rate, while, of course, inevitable in the case of 
 writers of certain temperaments who must 
 wait for the moment or for the season of in- 
 spiration, sacrifices of necessity something of 
 business advantage. If a second book follows 
 a first at an interval of not much beyond 
 twelve months, while a year later a third is 
 brought before the public, the remembrance 
 of the reviews and of the personal comment 
 upon and interest in the earlier volume or vol- 
 umes is still substantially fresh in the minds of 
 readers at the time when the announcement 
 of the new book is brought to their attention. 
 If there may be for the production of each 
 year an equal or an increasing literary prestige, 
 there develops an impression on the part of 
 the book-buying public, and of the booksellers 
 who represent this public more or less imper- 
 fectly, of what may be called a cumulative 
 reputation. This literary prestige grows from 
 year to year and with this growth there comes 
 a correspondingly steady increase in the value 
 of the literary property represented in the 
 author's works. Such steady development in 
 the commercial value of the succeeding books 
 and of the set as a whole, obtains to some ex- 
 
Ubc Xiterars agent 
 
 129 
 
 tent with the works of any writer who keeps 
 himself regularly before the public, and whose 
 books continue to secure popular appreciation. 
 It is, however (as pointed out in a previous 
 chapter), very seriously hampered and lessened 
 in the cases of books which, in place of being 
 grouped together in a uniform set, under the 
 management of one publishing concern, are 
 issued in volumes that are printed in various 
 forms and that are scattered through the 
 catalogues of a number of publishing Houses. 
 I have already pointed out the serious disad- 
 vantages from the publishing point of view 
 and the material injury to the property value 
 of the books brought about through such a 
 separation, a disadvantage which results from 
 such causes as lack of uniform publishing con- 
 trol and management, the absence of any busi- 
 ness interest in pushing, through salesmen, 
 the sale of the works as a whole, the lessening 
 of the advertising, direct and indirect, which 
 can be done for the author and for his works 
 apart from and in addition to the advertising 
 of separate volumes, etc. 
 
 This matter comes into relation with the 
 work of the literary agent in several ways. 
 If an author makes a practice of putting each 
 new book into the hands of the agent, to be 
 offered in the open market and under general 
 competition (at auction as it were) to the vari- 
 ous publishing concerns which may possibly 
 
 Xoolis 
 
 as a 
 
 Vcopetts 
 
130 autbors an?) publisbers 
 
 TReejjiitfl be interested, the books will be scattered in- 
 uo°ctber creasingly in proportion to the length of the 
 series. An author must, therefore, weigh 
 carefully in the business end of his head the 
 respective advantages between the "auction 
 system," which will occasionally give him a 
 somewhat larger price for a single book than 
 he would have secured under a continuous 
 publishing arrangement, and the advantages 
 above specified which result from keeping 
 his books grouped together so that they can 
 be managed as one literary property. 
 
 If the author retains the copyright of his 
 books, receiving a royalty on each copy sold 
 during the continuance of the term of copy- 
 right, his returns are, of course, for the earlier 
 as for the later books, directly proportioned to 
 the extent of the total aggregate sales. His 
 business interest, therefore, in having the 
 earlier books kept effectively before the pub- 
 lic and in securing for these the full advantage 
 of the prestige and the advertising of his later 
 productions, is easily understood. Even, how- 
 ever, in the case of books the copyright of 
 which has been sold outright, the author has 
 not only a literary but a business interest in 
 having them kept effectively presented to the 
 public, and in having them obtain continued 
 annual sales. When he has occasion, in offer- 
 ing for sale a later production, to test in the 
 literary market the commercial value of his 
 
Ube Xiterars agent 
 
 131 
 
 name, he will find that such value is very 
 materially aflfected by the status in the market 
 of his earlier books. If these are still in active 
 sale and, in the form of a uniform set, have 
 come to be known as "works," and are un- 
 derstood by the booksellers to possess what 
 may be called "vitality," it is probable that a 
 circle of readers is ready to be interested in 
 the new volume. For this new volume the 
 publisher will, therefore, be encouraged to 
 suggest a higher purchase price than would 
 be warranted for a production of equal literary 
 ability the author of which was not at that 
 time known to the book-trade and to the 
 reading public in connection with a set of 
 earlier books in continued demand. 
 
 The counsel of the literary agent is naturally 
 and almost of necessity in favor of securing a 
 different purchaser — that is to say, a different 
 publisher, for each successive work. If an 
 author's relations with his original publisher 
 continue satisfactory, so that the successive 
 books are issued under the same general ar- 
 rangement as to terms which have been found 
 equitable for the preceding books, or with 
 such modifications of these terms as may be 
 warranted on the ground of the increase in 
 the author's circle of readers, and therefore, 
 in the commercial value of his writings, the 
 agent is not in a position to earn from the 
 works of this particular author any commis- 
 
 Intetest 
 of tbe 
 
 Butboc 
 in 
 
 Continuct 
 SaUe 
 
132 Hutbors an& publtsbers 
 
 Bgent 
 
 Interest sions. His business must of necessity de- 
 "*""* pend, as far at least as books are concerned 
 (that is to say, exclusive of his trade in 
 serials), in "pulling his clients up by the 
 roots." For his interest it is important that 
 the author should be kept in a state of reiter- 
 ated dissatisfaction. An author who has 
 selected as his business agent a publisher 
 whose methods he finds satisfactory, and 
 with whom his relations through increasing 
 years prove increasingly remunerative, does 
 not form the material out of which the clients 
 of the literary agent are made. The larger 
 the number of the publishers among whom 
 the works of one author can be distributed, 
 the greater the aggregate of the commissions 
 coming to the literary agent through the sale 
 of these works. 
 
 The agency system has not yet taken any 
 very considerable part in the publishing rela- 
 tions in the United States. American authors 
 have, for the most part, found it to their ad- 
 vantage to select their own publishers, and 
 after once establishing with a publisher satis- 
 factory relations, they have also realized the 
 advantage of preserving those relations. It is 
 my impression that the same may be said of 
 German authors, while I understand that in 
 Paris the literary agent has, during the past 
 few years, developed in importance. It is, 
 however, in England that the literary agent 
 
XEbe Xiterars Hgent 
 
 133 
 
 has succeeded in convincing the largest group 
 of authors of the value of his services, and 
 with the aid of the valuable influence of the 
 Society of Authors, and of its journal. The 
 Author, the agent has, during the past few 
 years, secured an increasing proportion of the 
 business of British writers, principally that of 
 the writers of fiction. 
 
 It is, as already pointed out, in the depart- 
 ment of fiction that his service is likely to 
 prove most convenient and most valuable, 
 and it is in fact the case, in connection not 
 only with the employment of the literary 
 agent but with many other details of publish- 
 ing arrangements, that the writers of fiction 
 are rather in the habit of referring to arrange- 
 ments for novels as the basis for publishing 
 precedents. It is quite common to find in the 
 discussions carried on in The Author, and in 
 other periodicals giving consideration to the 
 business questions of literature, references to 
 fiction as being so important a division of 
 literature that it can fairly be accepted as re- 
 presenting literature as a whole. It can be said 
 in support of this view that the large circu- 
 lation that can be secured for popular fiction 
 gives to this division of literature a commer- 
 cial importance greater than that possessed by 
 any other class of literary productions ; while 
 it is also true that by far the larger proportion 
 of issues and questions that have arisen in 
 
 Qbe 
 System 
 
134 
 
 autbors an5 publisbers 
 
 fiction 
 
 as 
 pcoperti 
 
 connection with publishing relations and pub- 
 lishing conditions have come up in connection 
 with works of fiction. 
 
 It is, however, sometimes overlooked by 
 writers of fiction who are attempting to frame 
 publishing systems and publishing regula- 
 tions that will eliminate all the iniquities and 
 injustices under which authors have hereto- 
 fore suffered, that in not a few respects the 
 conditions and the requirements for publica- 
 tion of fiction differ very radically from those 
 obtaining with other classes of literature. I 
 consider it worth while to point out that 
 it would not always be safe for the writer 
 of history, or poetry, or text-books, or of 
 works of science to accept as certainly safe 
 guides for the management of his own 
 publishing relations the principles which 
 have been laid down and the contentions 
 which have been raised (chiefly by writers 
 of fiction) for the guidance of producers of 
 "literature." 
 
 The work of the literary agent is more 
 likely to begin in connection not with the first 
 but with the second book of a young author. 
 Reference has already been made to the neces- 
 sarily speculative character of the task under- 
 taken by the publisher when he brings before 
 the public as an investment of his own a first 
 book by an author whose name is not already 
 familiar to the readers and the buyers of 
 
Ube Xiterarg agent 
 
 135 
 
 books. Such a statement can, of course, at 
 once be met with the citation of a number 
 of first books which secured a very large 
 measure of popular favor, such as Jane Eyre, 
 the Wide Wide World, and many others ; but 
 such noteworthy exceptions constitute but a 
 trifling proportion of the class. 1 use the term 
 first books here, not necessarily to designate 
 the volumes that were first written, but those 
 which first came into the hands of the pub- 
 lishers, and through them were brought before 
 the public. It is not always borne in mind, 
 and it is, in fact, very difficult to keep in mind, 
 how large is the proportion of first books which 
 appeared to possess more or less promise and 
 to be characterized by literary quality, and 
 which the public, nevertheless, refused to buy 
 in remunerative quantities. When it is fur- 
 ther remembered that the books accepted and 
 printed form but a very small proportion (it 
 has been estimated as less than one tenth) of 
 those that are offered for print, it will be real- 
 ized that the task of the publisher in sifting 
 his first books is by no means an easy one ; 
 while the statistics of publishing will show 
 that the percentage of these volumes which 
 secure a remunerative sale for themselves, and 
 which prove to be really forerunners of an 
 assured and continuous reputation for their 
 writers, is very small indeed. 
 We will assume, however, for the purpose 
 
 Baents 
 anb 
 
 Butbots 
 
136 autbors an& ipublisbers 
 
 jfirat of our illustration, that some one of such 
 *"*'" volumes, one out of ten or of twenty, has 
 won for itself a favorable reception from the 
 critics and from the reading public, a recep- 
 tion which gives promise of larger circles of 
 readers for the later and more mature work 
 of the author. It is at this point, when the 
 author is first beginning to enjoy the very en- 
 viable satisfaction of favorable reviews and of 
 encouraging personal mention, that he is 
 likely to receive suggestions from the literary 
 agent who will be "interested in taking 
 charge, on the author's behalf, of the business 
 arrangements for his future works." It is 
 quite probable that the publishing arrange- 
 ment for the first volume has not been for the 
 author a very remunerative one. As before 
 explained, under the conditions and the risks 
 inevitable in connection with the publication 
 of first books, the publisher would not, as a 
 rule, be warranted in making with the au- 
 thor an arrangement that would be called 
 "liberal." If, on the other hand, the second 
 book tends to confirm the publisher's impres- 
 sion that this particular author has "come to 
 stay," and that his work is likely to possess 
 increasing value, the publisher can very well 
 afford to make for the second book more 
 remunerative terms ; and the author is, on his 
 part, with the favorable reviews and with the 
 statistics of sales of the first book to refer to. 
 
 1 
 
Ube Xiterars Hgent 
 
 137 
 
 fully warranted In demanding a more favor- 
 able arrangement. 
 
 It is, however, frequently not difficult at this 
 state for the literary broker to convince the 
 author that his first publisher has not done 
 him justice, and that if the second and suc- 
 ceeding volumes are placed in the hands 
 of an enterprising agent, he will be able to 
 secure for the author more satisfactory returns 
 than could be expected from the original pub- 
 lisher. It occasionally happens, on the strength 
 of such suggestions, that the manuscript placed 
 in the hands of the agent is first taken to all 
 the other publishers who may possibly be in- 
 terested, and is then brought back to the 
 original publisher with the word that he can 
 have the opportunity of getting control of it 
 if he will make an offer better than any other 
 that the agent can quote to him. It also occa- 
 sionally happens that publishers beginning 
 business and having some money to spend, 
 are so far interested in getting novelties for 
 their lists and in coming into relations with 
 authors that are being talked about, that they 
 are willing to pay for books higher prices or 
 higher royalties than can safely be afforded 
 under the conditions of the market or than are 
 likely to be offset by the sales. They also 
 have the advantage in outbidding publisher 
 number one, that an important part of the 
 preliminary work of the advertising and of 
 
 later 
 literary 
 Ventures 
 
138 
 
 autbors anO publisbers 
 
 Cbanges 
 in |>ub> 
 liabing 
 
 Sccangea 
 meitt* 
 
 emphasizing the importance of the author's 
 work has already been done. Under this 
 class of competition, the original publisher 
 may very easily decide that he is unwilling to 
 enter into such a contest at all, or that it is not 
 good business for him to take the risk of any 
 such speculative bargains as have tempted his 
 younger rivals. The second book is therefore 
 published by a second publisher. If, as will 
 probably be the case, it is a better literary pro- 
 duction than the first, it should secure a better 
 reception from the public and a larger sale. 
 The literary agent is then in a position to point 
 out to the author the value of his suggestions 
 and of his services in rescuing him from the 
 hands of his original "unenterprising" pub- 
 lisher and in securing for him the imprint of a 
 more satisfactory House. A year later, when 
 a third book is in readiness, the suggestion of 
 a change may again be made, and if the rest- 
 less author can be persuaded that further ex- 
 perimenting may be desirable, a third publish- 
 ing relation is entered into and the agent has 
 another commission to his credit. For the 
 agent the business is satisfactory. For the 
 author there may also be an apparent gain, as 
 it is, of course, possible that he may have been 
 rescued from the hands of an untrustworthy 
 or incapable publisher, or that each transfer 
 may have brought him into the hands of a 
 publishing House that is better fitted to take 
 
Ube Xtterars Hgent 139 
 
 charge of his particular class of productions, xeaie 
 and from which he does in fact secure better ,''g"'* 
 returns. It is equally possible, however, that 
 his permanent interests would have been bet- 
 ter cared for by the original publisher, who had 
 first been ready to show confidence in his 
 capacity and to back such confidence with his 
 money ; and that in beginning the practice of 
 scattering his literary work, he is throwing 
 away the opportunity of building up with a 
 set of his works, a literary property of con- 
 tinued and increasing value. 
 
 It will be evident from the above summary 
 that an author who has decided to confide to 
 an agent the management of his literary busi- 
 ness, will need to exercise a full measure of 
 care and caution in the selection of his repre- 
 sentative. An untrustworthy broker, may, 
 under the incentive of possible commissions, 
 cause no little injury to the final interests of 
 the literary producer. 
 
 Misinformation, or misleading information 
 concerning the actual status of the market, the 
 real value of the service rendered by publisher 
 A, the prospects of more profitable arrange- 
 ments with B, C, and D, may not infrequently 
 induce an author to bring to a close a publish- 
 ing connection which it would have been 
 much wiser for him to have retained. As 
 before pointed out, the higher rate of royalty, 
 or even the larger advance payment, does not 
 
I40 
 
 Butbots and pul>Iisbers 
 
 Ube 
 
 IRespoita 
 
 eibttities 
 
 oftbe 
 
 Bgent 
 
 always mean the largest total return. The 
 figures submitted by a literary agent to an 
 author concerning the actual cost of publishing 
 a book, figures upon which may be based the 
 charge that publisher A is securing an undue 
 share of the profits, need also to be subjected 
 to at least as careful an analysis as should be 
 given to similar figures submitted by the pub- 
 lisher himself. 
 
 A literary agent who has brought together 
 as his clients a group of the popular authors 
 of the day, who have been willing to confide 
 their books to his management, might well be 
 tempted to utilize some of the valuable literary 
 material at his command as the foundations 
 for a publishing business of his own. I do 
 not, however, find record in England, where 
 during the past decade the literary agency 
 business has developed most largely, of any 
 recent transformations of agents into publish- 
 ers, and there is, I think, ground for the infer- 
 ence that there is a more satisfactory and more 
 assured profit to be secured from authors' 
 commissions than from the more speculative 
 gains, tempered {pace, Sir Walter) by the very 
 decided risks, of the publishing business. 
 
 A retired publisher, who has had a full range 
 of experience in the business of planning, 
 printing, and of selling (or of trying to sell) 
 books, should possess some very desirable 
 qualifications and experience that should make 
 
Ubc Xitcrars Hgent 
 
 141 
 
 him a trustworthy agent and counsellor for 
 literary producers, but he would of course be 
 open to the objection of being, almost of 
 necessity, a pessimist. He would, therefore, 
 with a keener sense of the limitations of pub- 
 lishing and of bookselling, find difficulties in 
 the way of talking to his authors with suffi- 
 ciently hopeful prophecies, while he would 
 also be hampered in " laying down the law" 
 to publishers as to the precise number of copies 
 of a book that could be sold " if properly han- 
 dled," and as to the proper proportion of the 
 possible profit that must be paid in advance. 
 I have thus far referred only to the business 
 considerations that are connected with the 
 purchase and the sale of literary productions. 
 It seems to me further, however, that an 
 almost inevitable result of the work of the 
 literary agent must be to destroy, not neces- 
 sarily, the friendship between authors and 
 publishers as individuals, but the personal 
 relations which come into being between 
 authors and publishers who have for a num- 
 ber of years had business associations to- 
 gether, and who through these associations 
 have learned to trust and to honor ,each 
 other. The history of literature gives not 
 a few instances of such relations, which 
 have been honorable alike to authors and 
 to their business managers. Among the ear- 
 lier publishers who gathered about themselves 
 
 ■abe 
 
 IRequicea 
 ment» 
 of an 
 Bgent 
 
142 
 
 autbors an& ^ublisbers 
 
 personal 
 IRelationa 
 
 of 
 
 Hutboce 
 
 ant pulia 
 
 Itobeci 
 
 literary workers who became also close busi- 
 ness friends, were men like Aldus, whose 
 records and whose correspondence show 
 how close were the friendly relations between 
 himself and writers like Musurus, or Reuch- 
 lin. Later, we have the case of Froben of 
 Basel, whose most noted author, Erasmus 
 (himself credited with a full measure of both 
 exactingness and avarice), writes of his pub- 
 lisher in the most enthusiastic terms, and says 
 that the only ground of difference he had 
 ever had with Froben was due to his unwill- 
 ingness to accept from his publisher larger 
 payments than he believed had been fairly 
 earned by his books. Estienne of Paris, Ko- 
 berger of Nuremberg, Plantin of Antwerp, 
 Louis Elzevir of Leyden, are a few of the long 
 list of publishers whose lives give interesting 
 record of long-continued relations with valued 
 circles of authors, authors who were fully ready 
 to confide to their publishing friends the busi- 
 ness interests connected with their literary 
 work. A similar list could be prolonged 
 through later generations of publishers and 
 authors down to the present day, a list 
 which would include such names as Perthes 
 of Hamburg, with his great group of authors 
 who were life-long friends ; John Murray (the 
 second) the centre of the famous literary 
 circle which included such writers as Byron, 
 Southey, and Coleridge ; the Macmillans with 
 
XEbe Ifterars HQent 
 
 Hare, Kingsley, and others ; George P. Put- 
 nam in his relations with men like Washing- 
 ton Irving, Fenimore Cooper, and Bayard 
 Taylor; the Longmans, with Macaulay; James 
 T. Fields, author and publisher, with his 
 group of clients, all of whom were personal 
 friends, a group which included Emerson, 
 Lowell, Holmes, Whittier, and Hawthorne. 
 In fact, the list of publishers of this class might 
 be indefinitely prolonged. 
 
 The following extract from the life of 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes, by John T. Morse, 
 gives an indication of the views held both by 
 the genial Autocrat and by his biographer on 
 the matter of publishing relations : 
 
 ". . . So, in this matter of publishing 
 his books, he had the good sense to avoid 
 that jealous and quarrelling habit of authors, 
 which leads them so often to the flattering 
 fancy that their publishers are growing rich 
 on the product of their brains, while they 
 themselves are put off with a scanty paring 
 of their just rewards. It was sound worldly, 
 or practical, wisdom which made him be- 
 lieve, and consistently act on the belief, that 
 in the long run he could do better by keeping 
 the interests of the publishers and himself 
 permanently united, than he could do by 
 squabbling about payments or copyrights, by 
 seeking competitive bids, and splitting up his 
 allegiance, so that no one firm should have 
 
 143 
 
 Zbc 
 Earlfet 
 
 puba 
 Hebers 
 
144 Hutbors anO ipubllsbers 
 
 ube that sense of loyalty, good-feeling, and a 
 »o«won common interest, which means more in busi- 
 Doimeg ness than is sometimes supposed." ' 
 
 There would certainly have been an incon- 
 gruity in having the Autocrat of the Break- 
 fast Table, brought before the public with 
 one imprint, and his "twin-cousin," the 
 Professor, sponsored by another. 
 
 It is, of course, true, as before said, that 
 even when the system prevails under which 
 every new book, while still in manuscript, is 
 put up at auction for the bids of competing 
 publishers, or is carried about by the literary 
 worker from publishing office to publishing 
 office, so that the author will perhaps in the 
 end have as many publishers as he has books, 
 personal friendships between authors and 
 publishers may still be possible ; but these 
 personal friendships can, under such con- 
 ditions, hardly arise as the result of their 
 business relations. The formation of a liter- 
 ary circle which shall be connected with 
 some specific publishing office as its centre, 
 the bringing together into one group, possess- 
 ing a certain distinctive character of its own, 
 of noteworthy writers whose works will ex- 
 press some definite publishing policy, and 
 who will themselves find pleasure and ad- 
 vantage in their association with their pub- 
 
 ' Memoirs of Holmes, i., 223. 
 
Ube XUerars agent 
 
 145 
 
 lisher and with each other, must, if not 
 rendered entirely impracticable, necessarily be 
 not a little interfered with and lessened. The 
 loss to the publisher and the interference with 
 a continuity of publishing policy is very evi- 
 dent. 
 
 There must also be, in my judgment, no 
 little corresponding loss to the authors them- 
 selves in failing to keep in touch with a 
 business counsellor who has an increasing 
 knowledge of the author's capacities and pos- 
 sibilities on the one hand, and of the author's 
 public on the other, and who has an interest 
 both as trustee for the author and on the 
 ground of his own business investments, in 
 guiding the author's work in such manner 
 that it shall, throughout the entire term of his 
 working years, be made increasingly effective. 
 The history of literary production is full of ex- 
 amples of service of this kind, such for in- 
 stance as George P. Putnam was able to 
 render to Irving and as was given by Murray 
 to so many of the writers about him. The 
 memoirs of men like Perthes, Murray, and 
 Constable, and others, give examples also of 
 service of another kind which authors have 
 occasionally found important. When a pub- 
 lisher has in his charge the entire business 
 interests of an author, and is in a position, 
 from the results of previous years to arrive at 
 some trustworthy calculation as to the value 
 
 Ube 
 |)ublisbet 
 
 as a 
 (toungellot 
 
146 
 
 Hutbocs and pubUsbers 
 
 Scott an^ 
 Constable 
 
 as property of the author's productions, he is 
 in a position from time to time, if necessity 
 may arise, to discount for the author the 
 value of profits not yet earned. Authors have 
 frequently enough been helped over "tight 
 places " by publishers who are under no con- 
 tract obligations to make advances, but who, 
 nevertheless, might (entirely apart from a 
 friendly feeling or personal sympathy) feel 
 warranted, simply on business grounds, in 
 placing funds at the disposal of an author 
 who could be called their author, whose 
 present books were in their control, and 
 whose future writings they could expect also 
 to receive. 
 
 It is true also that in a number of such in- 
 stances the friendliness or optimism of the 
 publisher has not been justified and the ad- 
 vances have not been repaid. There are vari- 
 ous references in the life of John Murray (the 
 second) to payments of advances which were 
 never offset by the literary work from the 
 results of which they were to have been 
 repaid. The indebtedness of Scott to the 
 publisher Constable, for the amount of ;^io,- 
 000, an amount which would, as it was 
 calculated, have been sufficient to save Con- 
 stable from bankruptcy, is one of the famous 
 instances in English publishing history. The 
 majority of such instances, however, naturally 
 remain uncommemorated. I do not know 
 
XEbe Xiterars Hgent 
 
 that this phase of publishing relations is in 
 any case a very desirable one to perpetuate, 
 but it is in order to recall that in past years, 
 authors have attached some importance to it, 
 and have found a convenience in it ; and 
 I point out further that the possibility of 
 such accommodation must of necessity pass 
 away, or be very materially diminished 
 when the continued relations between a pub- 
 lisher and his author becomes a thing of the 
 past. 
 
 There is, of course, a further consideration 
 on the other side of the question. Personal 
 relations are pleasant, and are sometimes pro- 
 ductive of very distinctive advantages, both 
 personal and business, to both parties. There 
 may, however, at times be a decided disad- 
 vantage in confusing or in mixing up with 
 such relations business conditions and busi- 
 ness obligations. If, on the ground of friend- 
 ly intimacy, there comes to be a slackness or 
 lack of precision in business engagements ; 
 if, because author and publisher are personal 
 friends, important business undertakings are 
 entered upon without specific contracts ; if 
 the publisher, on the one hand, makes in- 
 definite advances without knowing what 
 really may be due to his client, while, on the 
 other, the author secures indefinite advances 
 without knowing whether he has earned the 
 money or not ; if, in any of the great variety 
 
 147 
 
 Vcecfsten 
 
 in 
 Xueiness 
 IRelatfont 
 
148 
 
 Hutbors ant) ipubltsbers 
 
 sbfp ant 
 
 of ways in which business rights can become 
 business wrongs, there has been a failure to 
 carry on the undertaking on strictly business 
 conditions, the result of friendly relations may 
 be a misfortune instead of a gain. On this 
 point I am in full accord with Sir Walter 
 Besant. An author ought not to be put in 
 the position of being grateful for the payment 
 of moneys which are actually his own pro- 
 perty. The term " liberal " does not properly 
 find place in the description of an equitable 
 publishing arrangement, or of the business 
 methods under which such an arrangement is 
 carried out. The author is a producer who 
 is planning to place his productions in the 
 market, and who needs for the purpose a 
 business agent or representative who under- 
 stands the conditions of the market, who 
 possesses the requisite capital for putting the 
 production into marketable shape, and who 
 possesses further the publishing machinery 
 for reaching, not one local market only, but 
 all the circles of readers who may possibly be 
 interested. In addition to this purely busi- 
 ness service, in which the publisher takes the 
 work of a capitalist, a patent manufacturer, 
 and of a general distributing agent, the pub- 
 lisher renders also to his client a professional 
 service like that of a legal adviser. His coun- 
 sel is often important for the author in the 
 shaping of the author's work and in the 
 
Ubc Xiterars Hgent 
 
 149 
 
 directing of his capacities. Tiiis counsel may, 
 in fact, sometimes take tlie more important 
 responsibility of initiating and of planning 
 from the outset the literary undertaking 
 which the author has to execute. In all these 
 relations, however, the two parties have di- 
 rect business responsibilities and, whether 
 friends or strangers, they should deal with 
 each other in accordance with the strictest 
 business principles and with the fullest ob- 
 servance of business detail in connection with 
 such matters as contracts, payments, delivery 
 of wares, etc. 
 
 Here also, however, the obligation is two- 
 fold. A publisher can very properly be com- 
 pelled by the courts to fulfil the conditions of 
 a contract under which he has agreed to make 
 certain payments or to do certain other things. 
 The author is in a position, if these obligations 
 are not carried out, not only to utilize the 
 courts, but to bring to bear upon the delinquent, 
 through authors' societies, literary journals, and 
 in other ways, the full opprobrium of public 
 opinion. The task of the publisher, in secur- 
 ing from a procrastinating, or slovenly, or dis- 
 honest author the fulfilment of the author's 
 obligations under the agreement, is a much 
 more difficult one. This matter has been 
 considered in another chapter. 
 
 I do not admit, however, that intimate per- 
 sonal relations or ties of friendship need be 
 
 ]Ftien%9 
 gbfp anb 
 
ISO 
 
 Hutbots an& ipublisbers 
 
 Ube 
 
 arranges 
 m<nt 
 
 permitted to interfere in any way with precise 
 business methods. There is no possible rea- 
 son why two friends having business together, 
 should not carry on such business under as 
 precise contracts as would be expected be- 
 tween men who had previous to their business 
 intercourse been strangers to each other; while 
 there is every reason why men who through 
 their business relations have become friends, 
 should be particularly careful in fulfilling con- 
 scientiously all obligations entered into with 
 each other. It is also to be borne in mind 
 that the risk of death must be provided for, 
 and on this ground if on no other, a business 
 arrangement ought not to be left in the form 
 of an understanding, but should be fully ex- 
 pressed in a contract. 
 
 The ideal publishing arrangement for both 
 author and publisher seems to me to be that 
 on which the author selects, with due caution 
 and under good counsel, a publisher who is in 
 a position to take charge of his books effect- 
 ively, in whom he is prepared to place confid- 
 ence and who, as the association continues, 
 comes to feel an increasing personal interest 
 in both the books and the author, and who 
 places at the disposal of the author a full meas- 
 ure of skilled professional co-operation and of 
 friendly personal service. With such pub- 
 lisher the author makes contracts, clear and 
 specific in their provisions, which contracts 
 
ZDc aitterars Bgent 
 
 151 
 
 will be repeated for each later book with such 
 modifications as the increasing value of the 
 author's productions as a literary property may 
 render equitable. Such increase in value 
 (based upon the larger circles of readers that 
 are being reached with the successive books ) 
 while chiefly, of course, due to the develop- 
 ment of the literary power and quality of the 
 author, must in part also be credited to the 
 skill and care contributed by the publisher to 
 the management of the growing literary pro- 
 perty. With such satisfactory results for his 
 labors, the author is well satisfied to leave all 
 his books ( or at least all his books of the same 
 general class ) in the hands of one publisher, 
 and will have the pleasure of seeing the series 
 of his productions finally described and cata- 
 logued as "works." 
 
 From such an association the author will 
 not easily allow himself to be diverted by 
 the plausible suggestions of the literary agent 
 concerning " larger rates of royalty " or " larger 
 advances " which can be secured from other 
 Houses. He will understand that the con- 
 venience of a larger cash advance may be 
 dearly paid for if it is to be the cause of 
 breaking up the publication of his books, in 
 uniform sets, as "works" ; and he will have 
 learned that the offer by some new concern 
 of higher royalties may not necessarily mean 
 larger final returns, as the new publisher. 
 
 per* 
 manencB 
 
 of 
 Uenure 
 
152 Hutbors and publisbets 
 
 ube without the direct knowledge of the special 
 mnt'b public to be reached and with possibly smaller 
 Hutbot trade facilities and connections, may very easily 
 fail to secure for the new book as large or as 
 continued sales as could have been depended 
 upon if it had been issued in connection 
 with the preceding volumes of the author's 
 works. 
 
 The intelligent and fair-minded author, who, 
 after an association extending over years, has 
 learned to place confidence in his publisher, will 
 not hastily decide that because some particular 
 season shows a decrease in the demand for his 
 books as a whole, or because the latest volume 
 finds fewer readers than those which preceded 
 it, there must certainly be inefficiency or un- 
 satisfactory management on the part of the 
 publisher. A number of causes may have 
 contributed to bring about the disappointing 
 results. The year may have brought with it 
 some special disasters or difficulties affecting 
 the general business conditions of the country, 
 in which case the business of selling books, 
 always easily impaired by adverse influences, 
 will necessarily have suffered ; there may have 
 been some material change in the tastes or in- 
 terests of the book-buying public, which is, 
 especially in the United States, a fitful ind fickle 
 portion of the community whose demands are 
 not easily to be predicated ; or the interest 
 of the community in the special class of litera- 
 
XCbe Xiterars Hgent 
 
 153 
 
 ture in question having continued, there may 
 have been placed upon the market an over- 
 supply of books prepared to meet the demand. 
 The sponge becomes saturated and certain 
 works, or portions of the editions of certain 
 works, remain unsold ; or finally (a sad, but 
 quite possible contingency), the literary qual- 
 ity of the author's work may have begun to 
 deteriorate, so that the later volumes are not 
 so good as the earlier ones. The author has 
 exhausted his special vein, and has lost his 
 hold on the public. This means disappoint- 
 ment for both author and publisher, but does 
 not necessarily show that the publisher is a 
 villain or that he has neglected his responsibil- 
 ities. 
 
 As I have stated elsewhere, I assume that in 
 every properly regulated publishing office, the 
 author is afforded every facility for securing 
 information concerning the actual history of 
 his undertakings. The records of the editions 
 printed and bound and the annual inventories 
 of the stock on hand (in warehouses, agencies, 
 and binderies) should, at all convenient times, 
 be placed at his disposal, so that he may have 
 before him the figures which serve as vouch- 
 ers for the annual statements of sales. With 
 these figures before him, showing what books 
 have been manufactured and what sales have 
 been secured, and with the knowledge that 
 the publisher has a very direct interest in doing 
 
 Stattstice 
 
 ot 
 Sbitfons 
 
154 
 
 autbors and ipu&ltsbers 
 
 statistics 
 
 of 
 Etitiong 
 
 all that may be practicable to secure remuner- 
 ative sales, the author will patiently accept any 
 discouraging results as inevitable and as due 
 to causes that are beyond the control of both 
 author and publisher. 
 
autbors' Hssocfations. 
 
 155 
 
 VARIOUS attempts have from time to time 
 been made by groups or associations of 
 authors to reach the public directly, and thus 
 to save the expense of the producing and dis- 
 tributing agent or publisher, but no authors' 
 publishing association has thus far secured for 
 itself any very long or very successful exist- 
 ence. In 1758, Lessing took an active part 
 in organizing a publishing association among 
 certain of the authors of North Germany who 
 had convinced themselves that the publishers 
 of their time had been absorbing too large a 
 proportion of the gains of literature. The so- 
 ciety broke up after an experience of a few 
 years, during which time the authors discov- 
 ered, first, that they had materially underesti- 
 mated the cost of bringing their books before 
 the public, and second, that an inevitable item 
 of their expense was the loss on the books 
 that produced a deficiency instead of a profit, 
 a deficiency which of necessity served to re- 
 duce the gains on the profitable publications. 
 
 Xteting'B 
 Butboca' 
 
 turn 
 
is6 Hutbors an5 ipublisbers 
 
 ubc ' The element of publishing fallibility had to 
 *'«"' be paid for even although the publisher him- 
 tton" self had been ehminated. This fallibility is 
 likely in fact to prove a more serious item in 
 the publishing operations of authors acting 
 for themselves, than in the undertakings of 
 publishers acting as agents for the authors. 
 
 The latest experiments in the direction of 
 authors' associations have been made in Paris 
 and in New York. The experience of these 
 two associations is, however, not yet suffi- 
 ciently extended to enable the authors who 
 have taken part in them or other literary work- 
 ers who are interested in the possibility of 
 eliminating the publisher, to arrive at any 
 trustworthy conclusions as to the business 
 results. 
 
 The authors' association of Paris was insti- 
 tuted early in 1896 for the purpose of carrying 
 on publishing operations, and thus of avoiding 
 the necessity of sharing with the publishers 
 proceeds secured from the sales of books. 
 
 The list of authors who have taken responsi- 
 bilities in connection with this association, or 
 who have at least permitted their names to be 
 used in its list, includes not a few writers 
 whose books have secured literary prestige 
 and satisfactory business results. The asso- 
 ciation begins its operations with the advan- 
 tage of the experience of previous similar 
 attempts, and it is probable that it will not 
 
Hutbors' Hssoctations 
 
 IS7 
 
 fail to secure for its board of management the 
 counsel and the co-operation of men of busi- 
 ness experience. It seems likely, therefore, 
 that it will achieve a larger measure of success 
 than has heretofore been attained by similar 
 associations. 
 
 It is probable that this association in Paris 
 has served as a suggestion for the similar pub- 
 lishing association that was organized later in 
 the same year by certain authors in New York. 
 In this society also we find the names of wri- 
 ters who have united with literary undertak- 
 ings some business experience, and there is 
 no reason why, with conservative and " pes- 
 simistic " management, it should not prove in 
 more ways than one of service to those who 
 have taken part in its organization and to 
 American authors generally. 
 
 Various suggestions have been made during 
 the past few years for the organization of an 
 authors' publishing association in London. 
 So large a measure of attention has been 
 given by the authors of Great Britain (both 
 individually and through the Society of Au- 
 thors) to the analysis and criticism of the pub- 
 lishing methods heretofore practised and still 
 largely in force, and to the serious injustice 
 brought upon the authors by these methods, 
 that it would on more grounds than one be 
 highly desirable for representative authors of 
 England to come into direct relations with the 
 
 B 
 
 new ISotlt 
 
 Bssocias 
 
 tion 
 
is8 Hutbors an5 publtsbers 
 
 TTbe business of publishing. It should prove both 
 socfetB interesting and directly serviceable to the 
 Butbora business position of the producers of literature 
 to have practical application made of certain 
 of the theories concerning the cost of produc- 
 ing and of distributing books, which are from 
 month to month presented to the literary pub- 
 lic in a decidedly readable, though perhaps 
 unduly aggressive, form in the pages of The 
 Author, the organ of the Society of Authors. 
 It will be particularly interesting to secure 
 evidence through the direct experience of the 
 authors themselves (whose testimony will not 
 be questioned by their fellow-authors) on the 
 vexed question of the extent of "risk" in 
 publishing ventures and of the influence upon 
 profits of the losses incurred through publish- 
 ing fallibility. 
 
 While, to speak frankly, 1 think it probable 
 that with the earlier undertakings of all authors' 
 publishing associations there will be a full 
 measure of disappointment, and while, as is 
 always the case, there must be some expense 
 incurred in securing a business foundation, it 
 seems possible enough that with careful and 
 pessimistic management, and with a gradual 
 accumulation of business experience, the work 
 of authors' publishing associations can be 
 managed satisfactorily. There is certainly no 
 reason why publishers on either side of the 
 Atlantic should be antagonistic to the opera- 
 
Hutbors' H0sociations 
 
 159 
 
 tions of such associations, while, even if pub- 
 lishers should find ground for objection, there 
 is, of course, no reason why authors with a 
 definite business purpose in view should give 
 heed to such objections. 
 
 There will, in any case, be more than books 
 enough left for the offices of the publishers, 
 while there will also remain for the publishers 
 that entire division of publishing undertakings 
 which are planned, initiated, and carried on 
 by the publishers themselves. The principal 
 satisfaction, however, which the publisher 
 may feel in connection with such business 
 enterprises on the part of authors, is the cer- 
 tainty that through these undertakings the 
 authors engaged will acquire for themselves 
 an experience and knowledge in regard to the 
 conditions of publishing, the actual expenses 
 of publishing, and the risks of publishing, 
 which they could gain in no other way. 
 With the larger wisdom secured by this prac- 
 tical business experience, they will be able to 
 place valuable information at the disposal of 
 other autho'rs who have not themselves taken 
 direct part in publishing enterprises. They 
 will also be able to arrive at fairer and more 
 trustworthy conclusions concerning the actual 
 conditions and limitations of the publishing 
 business as a whole, and they will assuredly 
 arrive at a more equitable judgment of pub- 
 lishers as a class. 
 
 Ifgbete 
 
 not 
 
 Opponents 
 
i6o 
 
 aBoacbs of arbitration. 
 
 Bcbfttai 
 
 tion in 
 
 Ifterarj 
 
 A MOST valuable service could, in my judg- 
 ment, be rendered by a representative 
 body, like the British Association of Authors, 
 or the Sociite des Gens de Lettres of Paris, if it 
 would take steps in conjunction with an equally 
 representative association of publishers, to in- 
 stitute some such Board of Arbitration or Court 
 of Arbitration as has been suggested in a pre- 
 vious section. To the decision of such a 
 court could safely be referred the larger part, 
 if not all, of those questions concerning publish- 
 ing relations or the business status of literary 
 productions, which must, under present con- 
 ditions, be fought out in courts of law. The 
 expense of arbitration should be much smaller 
 than that of a lawsuit, while it should also 
 prove practicable to secure decisions with 
 much less delay than seems to be inevitable 
 in court trials, and which interferes seriously 
 with effective justice. The most distinctive 
 advantage to be looked for would, however, 
 be in the personal knowledge and experience 
 
Boarbs of Hrbitration 
 
 i6i 
 
 which the authors and publishers acting as 
 arbitrators would possess concerning the real 
 nature of the matters at issue and the prece- 
 dents and customs connected with such mat- 
 ters, a class of knowledge which cannot be 
 looked for in the jury-room or on the bench 
 of an ordinary court of justice. The author 
 or publisher who had confidence in the justice 
 of his case would certainly prefer to submit 
 such case to the decision of his fellows, experts 
 of experience, rather than to the lottery of an 
 average jury. 
 
 Questions involving the interpretations of 
 copyright law would probably still have to be 
 referred to the law courts, as it would be nec- 
 essary to preserve the continuity of copyright 
 decisions, and as it is of course essential that 
 the maintenance of copyright property should 
 rest, not upon any privately constituted author- 
 ity but upon the law of the land. 
 
 Zlt6<tcil> 
 
 tion (n 
 
 literate 
 
l62 
 
 a&pertisfng. 
 
 ffl5ctbo» T^HE question as to the most effective meth- 
 SDvet. *■ ^^^ ^°^ making known to the public the 
 ttainfl fact that a book has been published and for 
 keeping before the public the further fact of 
 its continued existence, is one of the most 
 perplexing problems in the publishing busi- 
 ness and one, the difficulties of which are fre- 
 quently not realized by authors. Advertising 
 may be classified under direct and indirect. 
 Under the former heading would be included 
 the printing of the descriptive title of the book 
 in the catalogues and in the special lists issued 
 by the publisher, the purchase of advertising 
 space in the journals or magazines, and the 
 distribution among booksellers and bookbuy- 
 ers of show-bills and descriptive circulars. 
 Under the latter would come the distribu- 
 tion of copies for review, the consigning of 
 specimen copies to booksellers for sale, and 
 the work done by travelling salesmen in bring- 
 ing the book to the attention of booksellers, 
 and by canvassers in placing copies in the 
 hands of possible buyers. 
 
aDvertisiixd 
 
 If a book is published at the expense of the 
 author, the cost of all direct advertising except 
 that of printing the title in the publisher's cata- 
 logues and quarterly lists, is charged to the au- 
 thor's account, and only such outlay is incurred as 
 he may have authorized. If, on the other hand, 
 the investment in the publication is borne by 
 the publisher, the cost of the advertising has to 
 be paid by him, and the decision as to the 
 amount of expenditure which will be likely to 
 prove remunerative must rest on his judgment. 
 
 The leading publishing Houses issue general 
 classified catalogues of their publications, 
 which are revised and reshaped about once in 
 two years. It is further customary to print, 
 usually in the spring and autumn of each year, 
 separate lists of the publications of the sea- 
 son. The Houses with the larger lists of pub- 
 lications now make a practice of issuing also 
 quarterly bulletins, in which are printed in ad- 
 dition to the priced lists of titles of the publi- 
 cations of the quarter, full descriptive analyses 
 of these. From such quarterly lists the titles of 
 those works which seem likely to remain in 
 continued demand are afterwards transferred 
 to the general catalogue. 
 
 These lists of the issues of the season or 
 quarterly "notes or bulletins, and from year to 
 year the complete catalogues, are mailed to 
 the principal libraries throughout the country, 
 to the leading booksellers, and to lists of book- 
 
 AetboM 
 of 
 
 BbVCTa 
 
 tlsing 
 
164 
 
 Hutbors an& ipublisbers 
 
 S)tettiliu> 
 
 t(an of 
 (Catalogues 
 
 buyers as far as the publishers succeed in col- 
 lecting the names of such. The quantities of 
 catalogues and bulletins required for distribu- 
 tion through these channels are quite consid- 
 erable. According to the records available, 
 there are in the United States some three 
 thousand public libraries and about seven 
 thousand booksellers, and from seven hun- 
 dred and fifty to nine hundred of the former, 
 and from twelve hundred and fifty to fifteen 
 hundred of the latter are usually considered to 
 be sufficiently important to be placed on the 
 regular mailing lists for spring and autumn 
 announcements of new publications and for 
 quarterly bulletins. In addition to this distri- 
 bution, publishers receive daily applications 
 from different parts of the country for book- 
 lists, descriptive circulars and catalogues, and 
 they have occasion to mail in this way, in the 
 course of the season, some thousands of copies. 
 A still further channel of distribution is through 
 the booksellers, who obtain from the publisher 
 supplies of from two hundred and fifty to sev- 
 eral thousand copies of the book-lists of the sea- 
 son bearing their several local imprints. If the 
 American publisher has an English branch 
 House, it becomes necessary also to print for 
 distribution in Great Britain and the Colonies 
 special lots of the catalogues and bulletins in 
 which the currency prices have been replaced 
 by their sterling equivalents. 
 
HOvertfsing 
 
 i6s 
 
 If a work is of a special character, belong- 
 ing, for instance, to what are called technical 
 publications, for which a detailed description 
 is required in order to give an adequate im- 
 pression of its purpose and its subject-matter, 
 a separate descriptive circular can often be 
 utilized to advantage for mailing to the partic- 
 ular circles of readers likely to be interested. 
 Excepting, however, for some such special 
 purpose, descriptive circulars are not, as a 
 rule, found to be of sufficient service to offset the 
 cost of their distribution, as it is diificult to se- 
 cure attention for them from the general public. 
 
 For a work on pottery, for instance, it 
 would be considered advisable to mail de- 
 scriptive circulars to the managers of the pot- 
 teries throughout the country, to the principal 
 dealers in pottery wares, and to collectors, as 
 far as the addresses of these could be secured; 
 for a work on fortification or artillery, descrip- 
 tive circulars would properly be sent to the 
 army and navy instructors, to commanders, 
 to post libraries, and to the larger general libra- 
 ries which devote alcoves to such special sub- 
 jects. It would, however, as a rule, be futile 
 and wasteful to make any miscellaneous dis- 
 tribution of descriptive circulars of books of 
 such special character among booksellers and 
 bookbuyers as a whole. It is, further, usually 
 considered advisable to delay incurring the 
 expense of the printing and distribution of a 
 
 B^vectf8s 
 
 ingbs 
 (ticculacs 
 
i66 
 
 Htttbocs an£> publisbers 
 
 Ificvfcvps 
 IRequicet 
 
 tot 
 Citation 
 
 descriptive circular until reviews have been 
 secured or letters received from readers who 
 have been interested, from which reviews and 
 letters, quotations or extracts can be made 
 for use in the circulars. It is desirable, namely, 
 in presenting a book to the attention of the 
 public to be able to add to the publisher's 
 statement of its purpose and its value, some 
 expressions of opinion from authorities who 
 have no business interest in its success. If 
 this policy be adopted, the author must usu- 
 ally be prepared to accept a delay of a month 
 or two after the publication of his book before 
 it is desirable to incur the labor and expendi- 
 ture of distributing descriptive circulars. 
 
 Show-bills or posters are placed by book- 
 sellers on the boards in front of their shops, 
 and authors are accustomed to lay stress on 
 seeing their books so advertised. The matter 
 is, however, not of so much importance as it 
 is often considered; and, in any case, the 
 printing of the show-bill does not necessarily 
 secure its being posted by any great number 
 of booksellers. Every dealer receives a great 
 many more show-bills than he has room for 
 on his boards, and he selects for use those of 
 the books in most active demand, rather than 
 of the books most in need of such advertise- 
 ment. The cost of show-bills is chargeable to 
 the author, if he is the owner of the edition 
 of his book. 
 
Hdvertistng. 
 
 167 
 
 During the past two years, there has been a 
 noteworthy development in the artistic excel- 
 lence and attractiveness of the posters, or, at 
 least, in the striking effects that have been se- 
 cured through the use of grotesque designs 
 and lurid combinations of colors. The devel- 
 opment of poster-designing as a branch of the 
 fine arts took its start in Paris, and was, later, 
 taken up as a convenient fad of the season by 
 the " Piccadillians," and the " Bodley-Head- 
 ers " of London, who have, in not a few of 
 their mannerisms, been ready to follow the 
 lead of the literary Boulevardiers. In so far as 
 the increasing interest of authors in securing 
 an artistic or striking advertisement of their 
 books, and the increasing readiness of artists 
 possessing originality of imagination and ca- 
 pacity for designing, to give attention to poster 
 work, have served to make more artistic or 
 more interesting the show-boards of the book- 
 sellers or the hoardings of the streets, the fad 
 may be credited with some satisfactory re- 
 sults. It is probable that its chief impetus is, 
 however, by this date, almost spent, and that 
 there will, for the coming years, be a diminu- 
 tion in the expenditure required for this detail 
 of publishing machinery. This expenditure 
 had, in fact, become quite a serious item in 
 connection as well with the amount paid to 
 the higher grade artists whose designs were 
 utilized, as with the larger outlay required for 
 
 posters 
 
 as an Bet 
 
 atiiae 
 
i68 
 
 Hutbors and publisbets 
 
 Coetet 
 
 BSvcrtfsa 
 
 ing 
 
 the work of the lithographers and color print- 
 ers for the production of complicated com- 
 binations. 
 
 The value of advertising space in the jour- 
 nals in which book-advertising is usually done 
 varies from ten cents to fifty cents a line. The 
 line of type on which such price is based is 
 not that usually used in the advertisements, 
 but represents the space that would be cov- 
 ered by a line of agate type, measuring four- 
 teen lines to the inch. An advertisement of 
 say fifty-six lines, or four inches, which would 
 make a good display of the title and descrip- 
 tion of a book, and would enable effective cita- 
 tions to be made from reviews, would cost in 
 the more important of the New York morning 
 papers (which have literature departments) 
 from $15.50 to $17.50. In the evening papers 
 of the same class from $7.50 to $9.00. In the 
 weekly critical or literary papers, such as the 
 Nation or the Critic, from $6.75 to $7.25. 
 Advertising space in the leading magazines, 
 such as the Century, Harper's, and Scribner's, 
 is comparatively expensive, costing from $125 
 to $200 per page. 
 
 In selecting the journals in which adver- 
 tising space can be purchased with probable 
 advantage, it is more important to use the 
 money in periodicals reaching the intelligent 
 circle of book-buyers than in those having a 
 very extended circulation with the general 
 
aovertising 
 
 169 
 
 public. Ten or twelve thousand cultivated 
 readers are of more advantage for the pur- 
 pose of the author and his publisher than 
 would be two or three hundred thousand of 
 the classes of the community which very rarely 
 spend money in books. The whole business, 
 however, of possible returns to be secured 
 from advertising expenditure remains, even 
 after many years of carefully tabulated experi- 
 ence, very much a matter of guesswork. 
 
 It will be easily understood that, for books of 
 a technical or otherwise special character, ad- 
 vertising space can be utilized to advantage in 
 the journals which are devoted to the particu- 
 lar subject-matter with which the book is con- 
 cerned. For a volume addressed to military 
 or naval readers, having to do either with 
 military history or with the sciences in which 
 army men are interested, the Army and Navy 
 Journal would naturally be selected for adver- 
 tising. For theological works, space should 
 be secured in such papers as the Church- 
 man, the Observer, or Evangelist, accord- 
 ing to the special school of theology repre- 
 sented by the book. For liberal theology, 
 general ethics, and sociological subjects the 
 Christian Register of Boston and the Outlook 
 and Independent of New York are likely to 
 prove of service. These papers are mentioned 
 merely as representatives of a great class; it 
 would not be practicable in a brief reference of 
 
 Selection 
 
 of 
 3outnal8 
 
1 70 
 
 Hutbots an& publtsbecs 
 
 Selection 
 
 of 
 9outnaI« 
 
 this kind to specify tlie names of all the note- 
 worthy journals throughout the country whose 
 advertising columns can be recommended as 
 probably of value for its circles of readers. 
 For literature, irrespective of dogmas of one 
 kind or another, the Nation (weekly) of New 
 York, the Bookman (monthly) of New York, 
 the Boohbuyer (monthly) of New York, the 
 Critic (weekly) of New York, the Reviews of 
 Reviews (monthly) of New York, the Literary 
 World (bi-weekly) of Boston, and the Dial 
 (bi-weekly) of Chicago, are the most im- 
 portant. It is proper to say, however, that 
 the religious weeklies such as those before 
 mentioned and many others, give consider- 
 able space in the course of the year to reviews 
 of general literature, and their descriptions 
 and favorable mention of books of assured 
 value ought to prove of service in bringing 
 these books to the attention of thoughtful 
 readers throughout the country. It is, in fact, 
 a constant cause of surprise to both authors 
 and publishers that larger and more direct re- 
 sults in the matter of sales are not brought 
 about by distinctive and favorable reviews in 
 the journals which have in the aggregate a 
 very considerable circulation among intellig- 
 ent people. 
 
 With a certain class of periodicals, daily, 
 weekly, and monthly, a pretty close connect- 
 ion is maintained between the editorial or 
 
HJ)verttsing 
 
 171 
 
 literary department and the publishing or ad- 
 vertising control. If a book or a certain group 
 of books has secured a fair measure of attent- 
 ion in the literary columns of such a period- 
 ical, the publisher is pretty sure to receive 
 promptly thereafter a call from a representative 
 of the advertising manager with the suggestion 
 that a purchase of advertising space is now in 
 order. While the admission would not, as a 
 rule, be openly made that attention or favorable 
 attention in the reviewing department could 
 be influenced by the amount of expenditure 
 allowed for the purchase of advertising space, 
 it is quite possible with periodicals under a 
 certain kind of management to trace a very 
 direct relation between the two. If a pub- 
 lisher has attempted to economize in his out- 
 lays for advertising, his books are very likely 
 to be "slated" or pigeon-holed so that the 
 reviews or notices will be indefinitely delayed 
 or will be overlooked altogether, or will, when 
 printed, consist of a few perfunctory lines. 
 The more important, however, the literary in- 
 fluence of the journal, the less probability is 
 there that the managers of its review depart- 
 ment will permit themselves to be influenced 
 in the apportionment of their review space by 
 any suggestions from their advertising man- 
 agers. With this higher class of journals, a 
 suggestion from a publisher that, on the ground 
 of his liberal patronage of the advertising 
 
 Iftevfews 
 
 Sbvertfsee 
 ments 
 
172 autbors an5 publisbers 
 
 purpose columns, he is entitled to a proportionate 
 ^ °5 amount of favorable attention in the literary 
 department, would be received with a pretty 
 sharp expression of indignation and would 
 probably have an effect directly contrary to 
 that for which the publisher had hoped. The 
 position taken by the managers of these 
 higher-grade journals is that their reviews are 
 prepared for the public, not for the sake of 
 obliging their business patrons (whether pub- 
 lishers or any other class of dealers) or even of 
 meeting the wishes of the authors. 
 
 The purpose of reviews written from the 
 higher literary standard is to give to the 
 readers of the journal an impartial and trust- 
 worthy impression concerning the purpose 
 and the character of the literature of the day, 
 and concerning the relative value, for special 
 circles of readers or students or for the gen- 
 eral public, of different books devoted to the 
 same general subject-matter. In so far as the 
 reviews fail to present trustworthy informa- 
 tion of this kind, and the reviewing space 
 is utilized either with reference to the pos- 
 sible business advantage of the paper or for 
 the purpose of showing off the special erudi- 
 tion or special theories or vanities of the re- 
 viewer, or for the further purpose of maintain- 
 ing for the journal a reputation for omnisci- 
 ence, infallibility, and perversity, just so far has 
 the real obligation of the journal to its readers. 
 
a5vertislng 
 
 173 
 
 to the welfare of the public, and to what ought 
 to be its own higher literary standard, been 
 lost sight of. The journal has proved un- 
 faithful to its trust, and it must in the end lose 
 character, and, in lessening its influence and 
 its value as a trustworthy guide, it must also 
 impair its business position. 
 
 It is not usually found desirable to make 
 any very considerable investment in advertis- 
 ing until the notices of the book-reviewers 
 have begun to appear. Unless for the work 
 of some writer well known through previous 
 successful books, the repeated announcement 
 of the title and the name of the author will 
 not of themselves attract sufficient attention 
 to induce sales. When such announcement 
 can be followed by extracts from favorable re- 
 views, quoted from journals possessing liter- 
 ary authority, advertisements are much more 
 likely to be serviceable and to repay their cost. 
 The actual extent of such service and propor- 
 tion of such repayment it is, however, very 
 difficult to estimate. If a work has any claim 
 upon the interest of the public, continued de- 
 scriptive advertising can nearly always be 
 depended upon to produce an increase in the 
 sales, but it is often enough the case that 
 such increase is not sufficient to repay the 
 cost of advertising. If an investment of $50 
 in advertising brought an additional sale of 
 fifty copies for a dollar book, there would be 
 
 B&vetttea 
 ins 
 
174 
 
 Hutbors an& publtsbers 
 
 Btvcrttei 
 
 ing 
 SutUts 
 
 a net loss on the transaction of from $30 to 
 $35. That kind of "pushing" and "enter- 
 prise " publishers are, notwithstanding the 
 criticisms of authors, naturally averse to, nor 
 can they honestly recommend it to authors 
 who pay their own publishing expenses. 
 
 It is, as a rule, pretty easy to tell, after a 
 few experiments in advertising, whether a 
 book possesses what may be called "elas- 
 ticity, " that is, responds readily and remuner- 
 atively to advertising and " pushing." If such 
 an elasticity be there, and a public interest can 
 be felt to have been awakened, a great deal 
 can be accomplished by judiciously planned 
 advertising to extend and keep active such in- 
 terest. If, however, no such interest appears, 
 and the first advertising outlay produces no re- 
 turns, or but trifling returns, further outlays 
 will, at that time at least, be money thrown 
 away. It only remains to wait for some favor- 
 able reviews or for some turn in public opinion 
 before attempting further effort, or before, per- 
 haps, deciding that the venture has, at least from 
 a commercial point of view, been a mistake. 
 If a work fails to show such elasticity, if the 
 reviews be slighting and inconsiderable, or 
 even, if favorable, do not have the result of 
 attracting public attention, no amount of ad- 
 vertising can, as a rule, help the matter. It is 
 very seldom indeed that a book can be 
 crammed down the throat of the public, like 
 
H&x>ectfstng 
 
 175 
 
 Winslow's Soothing Syrup. When it has 
 once fallen flat, it is, with rare exceptions, 
 as impracticable for the publisher to put life 
 into it by advertising, as it would be for him 
 to lift himself over the fence by the straps of 
 his boots. 
 
 In this connection, however, it is proper to 
 remember that publishing management can 
 sometimes put renewed life into material 
 which has apparently fallen out of relations to 
 the literature of its time, and the demand for 
 which has ceased. In 1848, when the late 
 George P. Putnam undertook the publication 
 of such of the works of Washington Irving as 
 had at that time been written, these had for 
 three years been out of print, and no publish- 
 ing House had had sufficient faith in their con- 
 tinued vitality to make propositions for their 
 reissue. Irving himself began to believe that 
 his day as a writer had gone by, and told his 
 nephews that he thought his literary life was 
 finished. Yet, during the next decade, his 
 publisher paid him more money for copy- 
 rights than he had received during all the pre- 
 ceding years of his life; and, encouraged by 
 this renewed popularity, Irving completed 
 during those ten years some of his most im- 
 portant productions. 
 
 Of course, no amount of publishing man- 
 agement could have produced such a result if 
 the works had not themselves possessed the 
 
 Value of 
 publiebs 
 ing Service 
 
176 
 
 Hutbors an& publisbers 
 
 Value of 
 IReviews 
 
 essential qualities which constitute classics; 
 but no one admitted more frankly than Irving 
 himself, how large a part the skill and enter- 
 prise of his publisher had played in securing 
 from a new generation of readers the recog- 
 nition of his works as classics of permanent 
 value, and how great had been his discourage- 
 ment at the time the co-operation of this pub- 
 lisher was placed at his disposal. 
 
 We have referred to the importance of 
 attention from the reviewers. There are in- 
 stances of very considerable sales having been 
 obtained by books which had received no 
 mention, or but very slighting mention, in the 
 literary columns of the leading journals. But 
 these are the exceptions. As a rule, it is 
 almost impossible for a new writer to obtain 
 a hearing before the public, unless the review- 
 ers will give some space to his books. While 
 it is desirable, of course, that such notices 
 should be favorable, it has not infrequently 
 happened that sales have been facilitated by 
 fiercely unfavorable reviews, if these have but 
 given suflicient space to the material and have 
 presented some adequate description of it. 
 While reviews are important, and while with- 
 out them success is very difficult, it is also 
 easy to overestimate their direct influence on 
 sales. It occasionally happens that a work 
 which attracts very considerable and favorable 
 attention from the reviewers, fails to find favor 
 
H&vertising 
 
 177 
 
 with the general public; and the young author 
 who has, after the appearance of some pleas- 
 ant notice, hurried up to the publisher's office 
 to inquire how soon a new edition will be re- 
 quired, is met by a discouraging report. Such 
 a result is usually due to the fact that the re- 
 viewers, while writing for, and on behalf of, 
 the reading public, do not themselves form a 
 fair representation of the average opinion of 
 such public. They will naturally emphasize 
 that which has a personal interest for them- 
 selves, and this may very easily be material 
 which, for one reason or another, happens to 
 be out of the range of the interests of the 
 public at large. 
 
 The suggestion sometimes comes to the 
 publisher that the author can, through his 
 personal acquaintance, influence favorable re- 
 views in this or that quarter, but it is a sug- 
 gestion to which, as the publisher's experience 
 tells him, he can attach little weight, as he 
 knows that the journals whose opinions are 
 of any value conduct their literary columns 
 without reference to personal influences, and 
 in fact often arrange to secure their reviews 
 from different specialists outside of their own 
 office. 
 
 The number of copies of a new book which 
 can to advantage be distributed for review, 
 varies of course according to the character and 
 costliness of the work, the number printed. 
 
 personal 
 Influence 
 
 on 
 IReviewers 
 
178 
 
 Htttbors and pubUsbers 
 
 Bittribux 
 tion of 
 
 SOOftB 
 
 etc. Of a novel, from 150 to 300 copies 
 are usually used in this way; of a work of 
 standard literature, from 100 to 200 ; and of a 
 work of special character, a much smaller 
 number. If the book is also published in 
 England, an allowance of from twenty-five to 
 fifty copies should be made for the British 
 journals, and possibly eight or ten for the few 
 periodicals on the Continent which give at- 
 tention to American literature. 
 
 There has been of late a very large increase 
 throughout the country of journals in which 
 competent and able reviews appear, an in- 
 crease out of proportion to the growth of 
 booksellers and of book-buyers, but however 
 excellent its reviews may be, it does not 
 usually pay a publisher to add a journal to his 
 list, unless the town where it is published 
 contains at least one active bookseller in 
 whose packages the Press copies can be en- 
 closed, and who can be depended upon to 
 keep on his counter supplies or specimen 
 copies at least, of the books reviewed. 
 
 When, after all preliminary dilTiculties have 
 been overcome, his book is at last fairly pub- 
 lished, the author not unnaturally expects that 
 copies of it will at once appear on the counters 
 of all the book-stores throughout the country. 
 In this expectation he is likely to be more or 
 less disappointed, and the complaint that 
 "friends have inquired for a book in this 
 
Hdvertising 
 
 179 
 
 place or that, and have not found it," is one 
 of the most frequent that comes to the office 
 of the publisher. It is not always easy to 
 make clear, at least in connection with a first 
 book, why it is that publishing machinery 
 does not and cannot provide for any such 
 general distribution in advance of the public 
 demand. The first edition of a first book 
 does not usually consist of more than 1000 
 copies, and of these from 150 to 200 copies 
 are required for the Press. But a general 
 distribution of copies among the leading book- 
 stores of the country (even if there were no 
 other reasons rendering it impracticable) 
 would require not 1000 but from 5000 to 
 10,000 copies, a larger edition than either the 
 publisher or the author (if the venture be his) 
 is usually willing to risk with a first enterprise. 
 If, however, some such number of copies 
 were sent out, and one half of them (a large 
 proportion) found buyers, the extra cost of 
 manufacturing the copies not sold and the ex- 
 pense of the freight on these when returned, 
 would considerably more than absorb the 
 profits on the copies sold, so that with quite 
 a large sale the net result of the transaction 
 might be a material loss. It is, however, 
 also the case that the better class of book- 
 sellers object to receiving unsolicited con- 
 signments of untried books, and when such 
 consignments come to hand, they are very 
 
 on Sale 
 
i8o 
 
 Htttbors an5 ipublisbers 
 
 Soehs 
 on Sale 
 
 likely to put them to one side, or sometimes 
 even promptly to express them back to the 
 publisher at his cost. They reason that the 
 space on their counters represents a consider- 
 able outlay for rent, and that they prefer to 
 use their own judgment as to how such space 
 shall be occupied, and to select for it such 
 stock as may be most likely to prove re- 
 munerative ; and if they have in their shops 
 a certain amount of stock that belongs to 
 them, and other stock that they have the 
 privilege of returning, it is naturally to their 
 interest to give their special attention to the 
 former, even to the extent of putting the lat- 
 ter to one side altogether. 
 
 In consideration of this class of objections 
 on the part of the booksellers, and also of the 
 fact that if a House is in the habit of making 
 consignments of its books it finds much 
 greater difficulty in securing any orders for 
 them, the leading publishers have practically 
 given up the custom of making consignments, 
 although they occasionally find it advisable to 
 concede to regular customers the privilege of 
 returning for exchange unsold stock. The 
 leading booksellers usually place with the 
 publishers "standing orders" for specimen 
 copies of new books as published, and from 
 these specimen copies, in connection with 
 such demand as may arise through the no- 
 tices in the local journals of the Press-copies 
 
abverttsfng 
 
 i8i 
 
 sent with them, they make up their orders 
 for such further supplies as they judge will be 
 required. Instructions in the form of stand- 
 ing orders usually include specifications of 
 certain classes of books which are not to be 
 sent ; one dealer, for instance, wanting no re- 
 ligious works, another no fiction, a third no 
 works on special scientific subjects, and near- 
 ly all ruling out from such advance orders all 
 pamphlets and all poetry by new authors. 
 The book does not, therefore, as the author 
 often imagines, come into demand because it 
 is in the book-stores, but it makes its way 
 into the book-stores because it has come into 
 demand. 
 
 An author frequently suggests that, if the 
 publisher will only take pains to place his 
 book on the railroad stands, it will certainly 
 find sale. This also is, however, something 
 that depends, in the first place, upon the book. 
 The business of selling books on the railroads is 
 in the hands of a few large companies; that of 
 the roads running out of New York, for in- 
 stance, being controlled by three concerns. 
 The space on the stands is limited and is con- 
 sidered valuable, and the salesmen who sell 
 books through the trains earn good wages. 
 The managers are therefore naturally unwil- 
 ling that their space and the time of their 
 men should be devoted to any books that are 
 not what they call "sure things." They do 
 
 Soolie on 
 Stvatbe 
 
l82 
 
 Hutbors wxt> ipublisbers 
 
 Soobs on 
 newsa 
 Stanbg 
 
 not want to try any experiments, but plan to 
 give attention only to works that have already 
 "made a sensation." When a book has made 
 a mark, it is well to talk to the railroad men 
 about it, but not before. 
 
 The principal sales of the railroad dealers 
 are for books in paper covers, and copies of 
 these, if not sold promptly, easily become, 
 through exposure on the stands and the hand- 
 ling on the trains, shopworn and unsalable. 
 A large part of the loss on the unsold and 
 damaged books must, as a rule, be borne by 
 the publishers, and it is important, therefore, 
 for them that only such works be placed on 
 the railroads as are reasonably sure of finding 
 prompt and remunerative sale. 
 
 A very large proportion of the sale of paper- 
 bound books must be effected through the 
 railroads and news companies ; and as an edi- 
 tion of considerable size is required to place a 
 book at all effectively in these special chan- 
 nels, it is not, as a rule, considered advisable 
 to use paper covers for first editions of first 
 books, or for any books which cannot be 
 depended upon to secure a wide popular de- 
 mand. 
 
 The author may be disposed, after going 
 over this summary of the methods of bringing 
 a book before the public, to conclude that, 
 after all, his success will depend upon the 
 character of his work, and that if his book 
 
H^vertising 
 
 183 
 
 must, so to speak, sell itself, the publisher's 
 co-operation in the undertaking amounts to 
 nothing. Leaving, for the moment, out of the 
 question the all-important cases in which the 
 co-operation of the publisher includes the pro- 
 viding of the capital required for the under- 
 taking, we will point out some other consider- 
 ations which make such co-operation import- 
 ant, — considerations which any author who 
 has attempted to place a book before the pub- 
 lic with the aid only of a printer, or through 
 an authors' association, will be ready to ap- 
 preciate. 
 
 In the first place, the imprint of any reput- 
 able publishing House is of essential service 
 in securing for a book early attention, which 
 would otherwise come to it either not at all 
 or very slowly Publishing imprints differ of 
 course in value, not merely in connection with 
 the general reputation of the several firms, but 
 also on the ground of their special association 
 with different classes of literature, — scientific, 
 denominational, sensational, etc. 
 
 Secondly, the association on a publisher's 
 catalogue of the work of a new author with 
 the writings of authors whose volumes are in 
 steady demand, is of no little importance. 
 We have before referred to the large number 
 of copies of catalogues and booklists which 
 are continually being distributed by publishers. 
 The book-buyer who sends for a catalogue 
 
 Value of 
 Imptints 
 
1 84 
 
 Btttbors and publisbers 
 
 Value 
 of Con* 
 nections 
 
 containing the works of the well-known 
 authors, A, B, and C, finds in it also the titles 
 of books of the younger writers, X, Y, and 
 Z, and thus has the opportunity presented to 
 him of interesting himself also in these last. 
 
 A third and most indispensable service rend- 
 ered by the publisher, is in supplying the 
 machinery through which, if a book is called 
 for, it can be supplied. As before explained, 
 it is not in his power to create a demand or to 
 force a book into sale, but he should be able to 
 satisfy promptly any demand which may arise, 
 and to see that any public interest that may 
 have awakened be duly fostered and kept as 
 active as possible. If a review in a paper in 
 Peoria has attracted attention to a book, the 
 reader who inquires for it at the local book- 
 store may or may not find a copy on the coun- 
 ter, but he ought in any case to be able to 
 obtain information as to price, etc., and if the 
 work is on the list of any regular publisher, 
 the bookseller can fill orders for it at once. If, 
 on the other hand, the book has been issued 
 without imprint and is not on any of the book- 
 lists of the month, the intending buyer is likely 
 to leave the store unsatisfied, and may very 
 easily be diverted from his intention ; and it 
 may be remarked that the buying of books is 
 by no means so confirmed a habit with the 
 public at large that any legitimate means to 
 encourage it can safely be neglected. 
 
General Consiberations. 
 
 No method of publishing arrangement can, 
 of course, produce profits on books for 
 which remunerative sales have not been 
 secured, or avoid losses on books of which the 
 public has not been willing to purchase enough 
 copies to return the cost of the production and 
 distribution. Under no publishing arrange- 
 ment excepting that providing for the purchase, 
 by the publisher, of the book with its copy- 
 right, can the author secure for an unsuc- 
 cessful book any return, or at best any 
 adequate return for his labor. This labor has, 
 as far as commercial results are concerned, 
 been thrown away and constitutes the author's 
 portion of the losses on the undertaking. It 
 must be borne in mind, however, that com- 
 pensation for literary production can never be 
 made proportionate to the amount of the labor, 
 skilled or unskilled, that has been put into it, 
 but depends entirely upon the amount that the 
 community is willing to pay for the result of 
 the work — that is, upon the estimate placed by 
 
 i8s 
 
 Ptatte 
 
 not f>COa 
 portioneb 
 to labor 
 
1 86 
 
 Hutbors anO publisbers 
 
 Saks 
 
 tRequicet 
 
 to IRctucn 
 
 ®utlas0 
 
 the community upon the value to itself of 
 the service rendered by the author. It is the 
 contention of the author, in submitting his 
 manuscript to the publisher, that his work 
 possesses commercial value. If the result of 
 the publication shows such value to be a 
 minus quantity, there is no equity in asking 
 the publisher to increase his own loss by mak- 
 ing payments to the author, for, whatever 
 hours of conscientious labor the author has 
 put into his book, it is (from a commercial 
 point of view) worth nothing, because the 
 community does not want it, or does not want 
 enough of it, and, as a matter of justice, the 
 author ought himself to bear the loss of his 
 time and labor caused by his own erroneous 
 judgment. In case, however, the book has 
 been produced at the instance not of the author 
 but of the publisher, it is for the latter to bear 
 the losses due to his bad judgment and to his 
 wrong estimate either of the capacity of the 
 author employed or of the requirements of 
 the public. 
 
 If a book has been published at a selling 
 price which would return the first cost of its 
 production with a sale of a thousand copies, 
 and if (as is unfortunately the case with not a 
 few books for which larger sales had been ex- 
 pected) less than one thousand copies are 
 called for, the publisher will fail to secure the 
 amount invested by him in the undertaking. 
 
 J 
 
General donsibetatfons 187 
 
 To the deficiency on the manufacturing ac- ififeiiB 
 count must be added the outlay for advertising '{'fgb"„g° 
 and the amount paid to the author for royal- 
 ties, in case the book has been published un- 
 der an arrangement providing for the payment 
 of royalties on all copies sold. A book pub- 
 lished, for instance, at $1.50, and securing a 
 sale of a thousand copies and no more, would, 
 as a rule, return to the publisher the first man- 
 ufacturing outlay, leaving as a deficiency the 
 expense of the advertising. If on this 6ne 
 thousand copies the author has received a ten- 
 per-cent. royalty, the publisher's deficiency will 
 have been increased by the amount of $150. 
 He will have to accept this debit as an offset 
 to the pleasure of having come into business 
 relations with the author. 
 
 The contention has been submitted more 
 than once by members of the different authors' 
 societies that the publisher who understands 
 his business ought not to take, and as a 
 matter pf fact does not take, any risk in his 
 undertakings. These writers arrive at the 
 conclusion, therefore, that in estimating the 
 probable profits from usual undertakings the 
 element of risk need not be taken into account. 
 This conclusion is based upon the assumption 
 that, after a little experience, the publisher can 
 become an infallible judge of a "good book" 
 (the term being here used in the trade sense 
 to denote " a book that will sell "), as, for in- 
 
1 88 
 
 Hutbors an& publisber© 
 
 IRetnrna 
 
 on 
 dapital 
 
 Stance, a dealer in provisions can train him- 
 self to be an infallible judge of good pork or 
 of good eggs. I can only point out that no 
 such infallible publisher has as yet been pro- 
 duced. The history of publishing is a record 
 of erroneous judgments, and publishing falli- 
 bility is an unavoidable factor in the conduct 
 of publishing undertakings. The authors 
 whose books are successful complain of the 
 injustice of lessening their returns in order to 
 help to make provision for the losses of the 
 unsuccessful books. It seems to me evident, 
 however, that unless the author's share of the 
 returns from literature be made to assume its 
 portion of the losses incurred in placing litera- 
 ture before the public, the publishing ma- 
 chinery must assuredly within a certain period 
 disappear altogether. 
 
 This statement can perhaps be put more 
 clearly by the use of figures. We may as- 
 sume that a publisher begins business with a 
 capital of $i 00,000. On the successful books 
 of his first year's operations the profit amounts 
 to $10,000 ; on the unsuccessful ventures the 
 deficiencies aggregate $5000. The expenses 
 of doing his business amount to $5000. This 
 will mean that as a result of his undertakings 
 for the first year there were no returns in the 
 shape of net profits. His living expenses 
 would, therefore, for this year have to be 
 taken out of some previous savings, or would 
 
General donst&erattons 
 
 189 
 
 go to diminish his business capital. For the 
 second year he makes a profit on the "good" 
 books of $20,000, loses on unsuccessful ven- 
 tures $3000, pays for the expenses of the 
 business $6000, and has, therefore, a balance 
 to the good of $1 1,000. 
 
 Assuming, however, for the purpose of this 
 example, that the profits from the books are 
 to be equally divided between the publisher 
 and their several authors, he would have paid 
 to the successful authors as a result of the first 
 year's sales $5000, in which case, at the close 
 of the first year, the capital would have been 
 reduced (irrespective of the publisher's per- 
 sonal expenses) by just such amount. For 
 the sales of the second year the authors would, 
 in like manner, be entitled to $10,000, there 
 would remain for the publisher's living ex- 
 penses $1000, and the capital would be re- 
 duced by just such amount as his expenditure 
 exceeded $1000. It is evident that, on such a 
 basis, the entire publishing capital must be 
 dissipated within a given term of years. It 
 is, however, part of our assumption that the 
 continued existence and operation of the pub- 
 lishing capital is an essential service to the 
 author. But if such capital is to be preserved, 
 and if further similar capital is to be attracted 
 into publishing undertakings, thus giving to 
 the authors the advantage of publishing com- 
 petition for their productions, authors must be 
 
 Aafna 
 tenance of 
 publisba 
 fng (Capital 
 
190 Hutbors an& ipublisbers 
 
 ptofitB content to permit some portion at least of the 
 xoaetB "®* losses from the unsuccessful books to be 
 deducted from the profits accruing from the 
 sales of the successful books, before these 
 profits can be considered as available for 
 division between themselves and the pub- 
 lishers. 
 
 I have utilized, for the purpose of this ex- 
 ample, an arrangement on a profit-sharing 
 basis. The conclusion is, however, equally 
 well founded in the cases in which the 
 author's share of the "profits " or net proceeds 
 is paid in the shape of royalties, or of round 
 sums in commutation of royalties. The amount 
 of the losses or deficiencies on the unsuccessful 
 books, averaged on the results of the business 
 of preceding years, must be taken into account 
 as a necessary part of the cost of conducting a 
 publishing business, and as a necessary factor 
 in bringing literary undertakings before the 
 public. If the aggregate of these losses should 
 be left to be deducted from publishing capital, 
 such capital would, from year to year, be pro- 
 portionately diminished and must finally dis- 
 appear, and authors and their readers would 
 alike suffer from the destruction of publishing 
 machinery. 
 
 The managers of the British "Society of 
 Authors " have given a large measure of at- 
 tention to investigations as to the cost of 
 manufacturing books, and the results of these 
 
General Gonst&erations 
 
 191 
 
 investigations have been printed from time to 
 time in The Author and also in a manual 
 which forms one of the official publications of 
 the society. 
 
 The figures presented are of course entirely 
 trustworthy in so far as they represent the re- 
 sults of painstaking inquiry on the part of 
 men whose word cannot be questioned, and 
 who have a very keen personal interest in the 
 subject matter considered. The reports thus 
 published have naturally been accepted as fi- 
 nal authority by members of the society and 
 by many outside of the society, and the figures 
 in these reports have from time to time been 
 made the text or the occasion for sharp criti- 
 cism or animadversion upon the statements of 
 publishers who have given to authors a more 
 or less different impression of " the cost of pub- 
 lishing a book." It seems to me evident, how- 
 ever, that in not a few cases such comparisons 
 have not been based upon trustworthy data, 
 and have resulted in needless confusion and 
 not infrequently in injustice. 
 
 As indicated in a previous chapter, it is ab- 
 solutely essential in undertaking to compare 
 two or more estimates of cost for the making 
 of a book, that the different sets of figures 
 shall certainly be based upon precisely the 
 same amount of material and the same charac- 
 ter and quality of workmanship. Authors who 
 have read in the manual of the "Authors' 
 
 Ube Cost 
 of ipubs 
 liebing 
 
192 
 
 Hutbors anD pubUsbers 
 
 Ube (Cost 
 of prlnta 
 Ing Xoofts 
 
 Society" the cost of producing a i6mo or 
 i2mo volume containing a certain number of 
 pages, are likely to assume that the figures 
 should be precisely the same for any other 
 volume printed in the same size and contain- 
 ing the same number of pages. It is neces- 
 sary, however, to remind them of various 
 possible differences which will affect the com- 
 parison, such as the number of words contained 
 in the page, the width of the printed text, the 
 leading of the lines (upon which items depend 
 the number of thousand ems charged for in 
 the printing-office), the printing of the edition 
 from type or from plates, the quality of the 
 paper used, the quality of the material put into 
 the cover, the character of the cover stamp 
 (involving an initial expense for designing and 
 for cutting, and a later current expenditure in 
 the stamping of the covers), and a number of 
 other similar details. 
 
 Unless at the time the comparison is made 
 the investigators have before them the actual 
 volumes or actual material to be considered, 
 there is opportunity for misapprehension and 
 error of conclusion under a number of heads. 
 Every publisher and every printer has had ex- 
 perience with clients who come to them with 
 very pronounced conclusions, based upon very 
 guess-work information, as to what ought to 
 be the cost of certain editions of certain books. 
 
 I do not mean to say that men who have 
 
General Considerations 
 
 193 
 
 had the special experience that has now been 
 acquired by the managers of the "Authors' So- 
 ciety" in investigating certain classes of book 
 manufacture, would be likely to be confused 
 in regard to any matters in which they have 
 acquired direct information. 1 do say, how- 
 ever, that authors who have not had this ex- 
 perience may easily be misled in accepting as 
 a finality, and as a proper test for the manu- 
 facturing cost of all volumes of the same size, 
 the figures presented by the society. 
 
 The more important consideration, how- 
 ever, is the fact that the outlay incurred in 
 putting a volume into type and in printing, ac- 
 cording to some given model, a first edition 
 and subsequent editions, does not represent 
 the cost of " publishing a book." This fact is 
 also, I admit, referred to from time to time by 
 the representatives of the society, but, although 
 1 have read The Author from the first number 
 of its issue, I cannot recall that its writers have 
 at any time given evidence of a comprehensive 
 and accurate understanding of the actual cost of 
 carrying on a publishing business. It seems 
 to me a truism that this cost, whatever it may 
 amounttoforeach year or for each term of years, 
 represents the cost of publishing the books 
 issued during that year or during the term of 
 years considered ; and that to arrive at the 
 cost of the publication of each one of the hun- 
 dred books or of the thousand books produced 
 
 TCbeBus 
 
 tbors' So» 
 
 cfets 
 
194 Hutbocd ant> publisbers 
 
 ube Coat during such term, the entire cost of carrying 
 toMn"' °" ^^^ publishing machinery must be divided 
 among them. This cost includes various 
 items referred to in previous chapters apart 
 from and in addition to the actual expense of 
 producing, according to a proper standard of 
 book manufacture, the editions of the books 
 in question. The item of advertising is one 
 to which reference is usually made in estimates 
 presented in The Author. In these estimates, 
 however, it is not usual to make allowance 
 for continued or renewed advertising outlay 
 and the references as 1 recall them appear to 
 be limited to the actual space purchased in the 
 advertising columns of literary journals. The 
 very considerable expenditure which in the 
 publishing office is also classed (and properly 
 classed) under the heading of advertising, 
 which is required for catalogues, for printing 
 and mailing descriptive circulars, for distribut- 
 ing Press copies and (in the case of educa- 
 tional books) for instructors' copies , is usually 
 overlooked. 1 have before said, however, that I 
 am in accord with the author in the contention 
 that in the publishing arrangement in which the 
 author is to be debited with any portion of the 
 advertising outlay this debit ought not to in- 
 clude any charge for space in periodicals which 
 are published by, and are entirely owned by the 
 publishers of the book, or at least thatthecharge 
 for such space should be at a nominal rate. 
 
(Beneral Considerations 
 
 195 
 
 The expense incurred in presenting books 
 through travelling salesmen to the booksellers, 
 librarians, and library committees throughout 
 the country must be taken into account. For 
 this item as for many others, the calculation is 
 quite different in the United States from that 
 which holds good in Great Britain. The terri- 
 tory to be gone over is very much greater, 
 calling for a larger number of travellers and 
 for longer and more expensive trips. While 
 in Great Britain, the bookseller finds it to his 
 advantage, as a rule, to go up to London, the 
 great publishing centre, several times a year, 
 the booksellers in the United States have given 
 up any regular practice of making semi-annual 
 or annual calls upon eastern publishers. They 
 expect the representatives of these publishers 
 to come to them, twice in the year or oftener 
 and to bring for their inspection specimens of 
 all the books for which their attention is de- 
 sired. It is not only the case that the salaries 
 of these travelling salesmen are very much 
 larger for the United States than for Great 
 Britain, but also that their travelling expenses 
 apart from salaries are much heavier. It costs 
 on an average not less than $10.00 a day to 
 keep a traveller going east of the Rocky 
 Mountains, and in the territory west of the 
 Rocky Mountains the expenses may easily 
 mount up to $15.00 a day. While, in Great 
 Britain, a day's railroad journey will bring a 
 
 £ipence8 
 
 in (Stent 
 
 Scitaln 
 
 anb (tt tbe 
 
 ■Blnitc!) 
 
 States 
 
196 
 
 Hutbors an^ ipul>ltsbers 
 
 tribution 
 of Hew 
 
 Soolu 
 
 traveller within reach of three or four towns 
 where he may properly expect to find cus- 
 tomers, in various districts of the Southern 
 and Western States a traveller may spend an 
 entire day in the journey to a single town, and 
 if, when the traveller arrives, the bookseller 
 happens to be absent or to be in a bad 
 temper, it may be necessary to take the back- 
 ward journey on the same line, thus spending 
 twenty-four or thirty-six hours' time and 
 " mileage " with absolutely no result. 
 
 An author not infrequently finds ground for 
 question or complaint if he learns from friend- 
 ly correspondence that his book is not to be 
 found on the counters of booksellers in this 
 or that town throughout the country. The 
 author does not, however, fully realize the 
 very considerable expenditure that is incurred 
 by the publisher in bringing the book to the 
 attention of as many booksellers as can be 
 reached by his travellers, while it is also not 
 always appreciated that the placing of the 
 book upon the counter depends not upon the 
 publisher but on the decision of the man who 
 owns the counter. 
 
 A further item of publishing expenditure is 
 incurred in the printing of volumes for which 
 sale is not found. The manufacturing cost of 
 the remainders of the editions carried in the 
 warehouses of the publishers is of necessity 
 as much a portion of the cost of publishing 
 
General Const&erations 197 
 
 the book as is the cost of producing the copies soona 
 sold. It is as impossible for the manufactur- ^^^^ 
 ing clerk to be infallible in deciding concerning 
 the number of copies of any current publica- 
 tion, which are to be printed, bound, and kept 
 in stock as it is for the publisher himself to be 
 infallible in the selection of the works to be 
 issued. The original edition may have been 
 too large, or, in connection with some sudden 
 cessation of the demand for the book and of 
 the public interest in its author, the sale may 
 have suddenly dropped off at a time when 
 some later edition had just been delivered 
 from the binders. Every publisher has in his 
 warerooms stacks of volumes which repre- 
 sent some such sudden diminution or cessa- 
 tion of demand. During a certain period it 
 has possibly not been practicable to print 
 the books fast enough to fill orders, and the 
 manufacturing department has been urgently 
 pressed to hasten forward the production of 
 their supplies. Suddenly the public taste 
 changes, other books absorb the interests of 
 readers, and not only do new orders fail to 
 come in for new supplies, but the booksellers 
 who have found themselves overstocked re- 
 quest that they be permitted to return copies 
 which have been left on their hands, copies 
 which have previously been accounted for to 
 the author as sold. If, while the book was in 
 demand, the publisher should, through any de- 
 
1 98 Hutbors and publisbers 
 
 "KemaJn. lay in printing further supplies, be unable to fill 
 Kttionl orders even for but a brief time, the author 
 would undoubtedly find cause for complaint. 
 But it is not practicable to keep the market 
 supplied without incurring the risk of some- 
 times having over supplies left on hand, a risk 
 which for a long series of books becomes a 
 certainty. 
 
 If manufacturing fallibility, that is to say, 
 the impossibility of estimating with precision 
 the exact extent of the continued sale that can 
 be depended upon, forms a necessary factor 
 in the calculation, publishing fallibility, that 
 is to say, the certainty that in any given num- 
 ber of books a certain proportion will produce 
 a loss instead of a profit, constitutes a still 
 more considerable factor. 
 
 It will be understood that the several items 
 in the cost of publishing before referred to 
 are considered here, not with reference to the 
 debits or credits under the different forms of 
 publishing arrangements, but simply as con- 
 stituting factors that must be taken into ac- 
 count in any comprehensive and trustworthy 
 estimate of the actual expense involved in 
 producing books, in bringing books before 
 the public, and in keeping them within reach 
 of the public. If a hundred authors, men of 
 capacity, writers having important material to 
 bring before the community, for which ma- 
 terial the community was willing to make 
 
General Conaidetattons 
 
 199 
 
 payment, should associate themselves to- 
 gether in a publishing association, they would 
 have to take into account each one of the fact- 
 ors or elements in the cost of publishing 
 which have been here specified. These fact- 
 ors would include publishing fallibility, that 
 is, publishing risk, manufacturing fallibility, 
 that is, the cost of over-supplies or "re- 
 mainders," indirect advertising or " pushing," 
 in addition to the actual cash outlay for ad- 
 vertising space, and a number of further items 
 making up the expense account of publishing 
 machinery and publishing management, items 
 which, in an essay like the present, cannot well 
 be specified in detail. If the members of such 
 an authors' publishing association should fail 
 at the outset of their undertaking to take into 
 their calculations these various factors, they 
 would certainly find themselves confronted 
 with some very unsatisfactory figures later, 
 when they came to make up their first year's 
 balance-sheet. 
 
 In bringing to a close these few suggestions, 
 which have been penned to facilitate, as far as 
 practicable, the work of the author in obtain- 
 ing information and in effecting his publishing 
 arrangements, I have only to repeat, first, that 
 they are addressed particularly to writers 
 whose experience is still to come. Authors 
 who have already seen their names on various 
 title-pages, who have become hardened, so to 
 
 publisbing 
 fallibility 
 
200 
 
 Hutbors ant) publtsbers 
 
 tCbcse 
 Suggests 
 
 ions 
 B^^reIse^ 
 to Uoung 
 VOlclters 
 
 speak, to publishers and critics, may find in 
 these pages some statements that do not en- 
 tirely accord with their own experience. We 
 can merely claim for our suggestions that they 
 have been carefully considered and are as sub- 
 stantially accurate as any general statements 
 can be, while admitting that, like all general 
 statements, they are subject to hot a few ex- 
 ceptions. 
 
 It is my opinion that, in one way or another, 
 all literary work that deserves to live (in addi- 
 tion to a good deal that does not) succeeds in 
 making its way into print, and in getting itself 
 placed before the public. I do not believe that 
 our American prairies conceal any Charlotte 
 Brontes, to whom the opportunity for ex- 
 pression and fame has been denied, or that 
 a careful search through American villages 
 would develop any " mute, inglorious Mil- 
 tons," rusting away their undeveloped lives. 
 Opportunity for expression can, with a little 
 patience and persistence, be secured by every 
 writer who has anything to say to his fellow- 
 men (and also, unfortunately, by a good many 
 who have nothing) ; and every literary aspir- 
 ant can safely indulge in the hope that if pos- 
 terity has need of his impressions, the particu- 
 lar " sands of time " on which these have been 
 placed will become stone to preserve them. 
 
 As has been indicated in the foregoing 
 pages, I am further of opinion that such diffi- 
 
General Conslberattons 201 
 
 culties as have arisen between authors and xttetatB 
 publishers (and I am glad to say that with '''""" 
 the clients of American publishers difficulties 
 have been but inconsiderable) have, in the 
 main, been caused by a lack of understanding 
 on the part of the authors of the actual con- 
 ditions belonging to the work of publishing 
 books and to the circulation of erroneous as- 
 sumptions and misleading impressions con- 
 cerning these conditions. It is, therefore, a 
 ground for congratulation that, under the 
 initiative of authors' societies and authors' 
 guilds, a larger measure of attention than ever 
 before is now being given by authors to a 
 personal study of the details of the work of 
 manufacturing books and of placing them be- 
 fore the public. I trust that to the informa- 
 tion that is thus being brought together under 
 the direction of these authors' societies may, 
 in the near future, be added the resuhs of the 
 experience of authors' publishing associations, 
 on both sides of the Atlantic, in the direct 
 management of publishing undertakings. 
 If, further, there may come into existence, 
 by means of literary Courts of Arbitration, 
 a body of decisions to be accepted by both 
 authors and publishers as guides and pre- 
 cedents, covering all classes of questions and 
 issues arising out of publishing relations, the 
 opportunities for an untrustworthy publisher 
 to take undue advantage of the confidence of 
 
autbocs ant) l>ubUsbers 
 
 lessening 
 
 of 
 
 IRnfaunBeB 
 Ccitictem 
 
 his clients should be reduced to a minimum, 
 while there will be no excuse for the continu- 
 ance of reckless and unfounded criticisms and 
 accusations on the part of ignorant, ill-in- 
 formed, or heedless authors. 
 
 If this manual may be fortunate enough to 
 prove of service in helping to bring about 
 these desirable results, the purpose of its pub- 
 lication will have been accomplished. 
 
©n Securing Cop^rigbt. 
 
 THE LAW OF COPYRIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 203 
 
 Text of the Statutes in Force fuly i, i8p^.' 
 
 Section 4948. All records and other things relating to 
 copyrights and required by law to be preserved, shall be 
 under the control of the Librarian of Congress, and kept and 
 preserved in the Library of Congress ; and the Librarian of 
 Congress shall have the immediate care and supervision 
 thereof, and, under the supervision of the Joint Committee 
 of Congress on the Library, shall perform all acts and duties 
 required by law touching copyrights. 
 
 Sec. 4949. The seal provided for the office of the Libra- 
 rian of Congress shall be the seal thereof, and by it all records 
 and papers issued from the office, and to be used in evidence, 
 shall be authenticated. 
 
 Sec. 4950. The Librarian of Congress shall give a bond, 
 with sureties, to the Treasurer of the United States, in the 
 sum of five thousand dollars, with the condition that he will 
 
 ' From the Revised Statutes of the United States, in 
 force December i, 1873, "■^ amended hy the Acts of June, 
 18, 1874, August I, 1882, March 3, 1891, and March 2, 
 1895. 
 
 TTbe 
 
 Xawof 
 
 Copsrigbt 
 
204 
 
 Hutbocs anJ> publfsbers 
 
 tibe 
 
 Xawof 
 
 ffopEclgbt 
 
 render to the proper officers of the Treasury a true account 
 of all moneys received by virtue of his office. 
 
 Sec. 4951. The Librarian of Congress shall make an 
 annual report to Congress of the number and description of 
 copyright publications for which entries have been made 
 during the year. 
 
 Sec. 4952. The author, inventor, designer, or proprietor 
 of any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, 
 engraving, cut, print, or photograph or negative thereof, or 
 of a painting, drawing, chromo, statuary, and of models or 
 designs intended to be perfected as works of the fine arts, 
 and the executors, administrators, or assigns of any such 
 person, shall, upon complying with the provisions of this 
 chapter, have the sole liberty of printing, reprinting, pub- 
 lishing, completing, copying, executing, finishing, and vend- 
 ing the same ; and, in the case of a dramatic composition, 
 of publicly performing or representing it, or causing it to be 
 performed or represented by others. And authors or their 
 assigns shall have exclusive right to dramatize or translate 
 any of their works for which copyright shall have been 
 obtained under the laws of the United States. 
 
 Sec. 4953. Copyrights shall be granted for the term of 
 twenty-eight years from the time of recording the title 
 thereof, in the manner hereinafter directed. 
 
 Sec. 4954. The author, inventor, or designer, if he be still 
 living, or his widow or children, if he be dead, shall have the 
 same exclusive right continued for the fijrther term of four- 
 teen years, upon recording the title of the work or descrip- 
 tion of the article so secured a second time, and complying 
 with all other regulations in regard to original copyrights, 
 within six months before the expiration of the first term. 
 And such person shall, within two months from the date of 
 said renewal, cause a copy of the record thereof to be pub- 
 lished in one or more newspapers, printed in the United 
 States, for the space of four weeks. 
 
 Sec. 4955. Copyrights shall be assignable in law by any 
 instrument of writing, and such assignment shall be re- 
 
©n Securing CopBrigbt 
 
 205 
 
 corded in the office of the Librarian of Congress within sixty 
 days after its execution ; in default of which it shall be void 
 as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee for a valu- 
 able consideration, without notice. 
 
 Sec. 4956. No person shall be entitled to a copyright un- 
 less he shall, on or before the day of publication, in this or 
 any foreign country, deliver at the office of the Librarian of 
 Congress, or deposit in the mail within the United States, 
 addretsed to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 
 District of Columbia, a printed copy of the title of the book, 
 map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, 
 print, photograph, or chromo, or a description of the paint- 
 ing, drawing, statue, statuary, or a model or design, for a 
 work of the fine arts, for which he desires a copyright ; nor 
 unless he shall also, not later than the day of the publication 
 thereof, in this or any foreign country, deliver at the office 
 of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, District of 
 Columbia, or deposit in the mail, within the United States, 
 addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, two copies of such copyright book, map, 
 chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, chromo, 
 cut, print, or photograph, or in case of a painting, drawing, 
 statue, statuary, model, or design for a work of the fine 
 arts, a photograph of the same : Provided, That in the 
 case of a book, photograph, chromo, or lithograph, the two 
 copies of the same required to be delivered or deposited as 
 above, shall be printed from type set within the limits of 
 the United States, or from plates made therefrom, or from 
 negatives, or drawings on stone made within the limits of 
 the United States, or from transfers made therefrom. During 
 the existence of such copyright the importation into the 
 United States of any book, chromo, lithograph, or photo- 
 graph, so copyrighted, or any edition or editions thereof, or 
 any plates of the same not made from type set, negatives, or 
 drawings on stone made within the limits of the United 
 States, shall be, and it is hereby prohibited, except in the 
 cases specified in paragraphs 5 12 to 5 16, inclusive, in section 
 
 Ube 
 
 law of 
 
 Csp^rigbt 
 
206 
 
 Hutbors an5 ©ublisbers 
 
 Ube 
 
 Saw of 
 
 Copsrigbt 
 
 2 of the act entitled," an act to reduce the revenue and 
 equalize the duties on imports and for other purposes, ap- 
 proved October i , 1 890 ; and except in the case of persons 
 purchasing for use and not for sale, who import, subject to 
 the duty thereon, not more than two copies of such bookat 
 any one time ; and, except in the case of newspapers and 
 magazines, not containing in whole or in part matter copy- 
 righted under the provisions of this act, unauthorized by the 
 author, which are hereby exempted from prohibition of im- 
 portation : 
 
 Provided, nevertheless, That in the case of books in for- 
 eign languages, of which only translations in English are 
 copyrighted, the prohibition of importation shall apply only 
 to the translation of the same, and the importation of the 
 books in the original language shall be permitted. 
 
 Sec. 4957. The Librarian of Congress shall record the 
 name of such copyright book, or other article, forthwith in 
 a book to be kept for that purpose, in the words following : 
 " Library of Congress, to wit : Be it remembered, that on 
 
 the day of A. B., of hath deposited 
 
 in this office the title of a book, (map, chart, or otherwise, 
 as the case may be, or description of the article,) the title 
 or description of which is in the following words, to wit : 
 (here insert the title or description,) the right whereof he 
 claims as author, (originator, or proprietor, as the case may 
 be,) in conformity with the laws of the United States re- 
 specting copyrights. C. D., Library of Congress." And 
 he shall give a copy of the title or description, under the seal 
 of the Librarian of Congress, to the proprietor, whenever he 
 shall require it. 
 
 Sec. 4958. The Librarian of Congress shall receive from 
 
 ' Note. — These paragraphs of the Tariff act permit free 
 importation of books, etc., more than twenty years old, 
 books in foreign languages, publications imported by the 
 Government, or for societies, colleges, etc., and libraries 
 which have been in use one or more years, brought from 
 abroad by persons or families and not for sale. 
 
©n Securing (Eop^rf gbt 
 
 207 
 
 the persons to whom the services designated are rendered, 
 the following fees : i . For recording the title or description 
 of any copyright book or other article, fifty cents. 2. For 
 every copy under seal of such record actually given to the 
 person claiming the copyright, or his assigns, fifty cents. 
 3. For recording and certifying any instrument of writing 
 for the assignment of a copyright, one dollar. 4. For every 
 copy of an assignment, one dollar. All fees so received 
 shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States ; Pro- 
 vided, That the charge for recording the title or description 
 of any article entered for copyright, the production of a per- 
 son not a citizen or resident of the United States, shall be 
 one dollar, to be paid as above into the Treasury of the 
 United States, to defray the expenses of lists of copyrighted 
 articles as hereinafter provided for. 
 
 And it is hereby made the duty of the Librarian of Con- 
 gress to furnish to the Secretary of the Treasury copies of the 
 entries of titles of all books and other articles wherein the 
 copjnright had been completed by the deposit of two copies 
 of such book printed fi-om type set within the limits of the 
 United States, in accordance with the provisions of this act, 
 and by the deposit of two copies of such other article made 
 or produced in the United States ; and the Secretary of the 
 Treasury is hereby directed to prepare and print, at intervals 
 of not more than a week, catalogues of such title-entries for 
 distribution to the collectors of customs of the United States 
 and to the postmasters of all post offices receiving foreign 
 mails, and such weekly lists, as they are issued, shall be furn- 
 ished to all parties desiring them, at a sum not exceeding 
 five dollars per annum ; and the Secretary and the Post- 
 master General are hereby empowered and required to make 
 and enforce such rules and regulations as shall prevent the 
 importation into the United States, except upon the con- 
 ditions above specified, of all articles prohibited by this 
 act. 
 
 Sec. 4959. The proprietor of every copyright book or 
 other article shall deliver at the office of the Librarian of 
 
 Xawot 
 Copttigbt 
 
208 
 
 autbors an& publisbers 
 
 Ubc 
 
 Xawof 
 
 Copstfflbt 
 
 Congress, or deposit in tiie mail, addressed to the Librarian 
 of Congress, at Washington, District of Columbia, a copy 
 of every subsequent edition wherein any substantial changes 
 shall be made : Trovided, however, That the alterations, 
 revisions, and additions made to books by foreign authors, 
 heretofore published, of which new editions shall appear 
 subsequently to the taking effect of this act, shall be held 
 and deemed capable of being copyrighted as above provided 
 for in this act, unless they form a part of the series in course 
 of publication at the time this act shall take effect. 
 
 Sec. 4960. For every failure on the part of the proprietor 
 of any copyright to deliver, or deposit in the mail, either of 
 the published copies, or description, or photograph, required 
 by sections 4956 and 4959, the proprietor of the copyright 
 shall be liable to a penalty of twenty-five dollars, to be re- 
 covered by the Librarian of Congress, in the name of the 
 United States, in an action in the nature of an action of 
 debt, in any district court of the United States within the 
 jurisdiction of which the delinquent may reside or be found. 
 
 Sec. 4961 . The postmaster to whom such copyright book, 
 title, or other article is delivered, shall, if requested, give a 
 receipt therefor ; and when so delivered he shall mail it to 
 its destination. 
 
 Sec. 4962. No person shall maintain an action for the in- 
 fi-ingement of his copyright unless he shall give notice there- 
 of by inserting in the several copies of every edition pub- 
 lished, on the title-page, or the page immediately following, 
 if it be a book ; or if a map, chart, musical composition, 
 print, cut, engraving, photograph, painting, drawing, chro- 
 mo, statue, statuary, or model or design intended to be 
 perfected and completed as a work of the fine arts, by in- 
 scribing upon some visible portion thereof, or on the sub- 
 stance on which the same shall be mounted, the following 
 words, viz. : " Entered, according to act of Congress, in the 
 year , by A. B., in the office of the Librarian of Con- 
 gress, at Washington " ; or, at his option, the word " Copy- 
 right," together with the year the copyright was entered. 
 
®n Securing Copsrigbt 
 
 and the name of the party by whom it was taken out, thus : 
 "Copyright, i8— , by A. B." 
 
 Sec. 4963. Every person who shall insert or impress such 
 notice, or words of the same purport, in or upon any book, 
 map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, print, cut, en- 
 graving, or photograph, or other article, for which he has 
 not obtained a copyright, shall be liable to a penalty of one 
 hundred dollars, recoverable one-half for the person who 
 shall sue for such penalty, and one-half to the use of the 
 United States. 
 
 Sec. 4964. Every person who, after the recording of the 
 title of any book and the depositing of two copies of such 
 book as provided by this act, shall, contrary to the provi- 
 sions of this act, within the term limited, and without the 
 consent of the proprietor of the copyright first obtained in 
 writing, signed in the presence of two or more witnesses, 
 print, publish, dramatize, translate, or import, or, knowing 
 the same to be so printed, published, dramatized, translated, 
 or imported, shall sell or expose for sale any copy of such 
 book, shall forfeit every copy thereof to such proprietor, and 
 shall also forfeit and pay such damages as may be recovered 
 in a civil action by such proprietor in any court of competent 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 Sec. 4965. If any person, after the recording of the title 
 of any map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, print, 
 cut, engraving, or photograph, or chromo, or of the de- 
 scription of any painting, drawing, statue, statuary, or model 
 or design intended to be perfected and executed as a work of 
 the fine arts as provided by this act, shall, within the term 
 limited, contrary to the provisions of this act, and without 
 the consent of the proprietor of the copyright first obtained 
 in writing, signed in presence of two or more witnesses, en- 
 grave, etch, work, copy, print, publish, dramatize, translate, 
 or import, either in whole or in part, or by varying the main 
 design, with intent to evade the law, or knowing the same 
 to be so printed, published, dramatized, translated, or im- 
 ported, shall sell or expose to sale any copy of such map or 
 
 209 
 
 law of 
 aopsrfgbt 
 
210 
 
 Hutbors and ipubltsbets 
 
 irbe 
 
 law of 
 
 Copsciabt 
 
 other article, as aforesaid, he shall forfeit to the proprietor all 
 the plates on which the same shall be copied, and every 
 sheet thereof, either copied or printed, and shall further for- 
 feit one dollar for every sheet of the same found in his pos- 
 session, either printing, printed, copied, published, imported, 
 or exposed for sale ; and in case of a painting, statue, or 
 statuary, he shall forfeit ten dollars for every copy of the 
 same in his possession, or by him sold or exposed for sale ; 
 one-half thereof to the proprietor and the other half to the 
 use of the United States. Trovided, however, That in case 
 of any such infringement of the copyright of a photograph 
 made from any object not a work of the fine arts, the sum to 
 be recovered in any action brought under the provisions of this 
 section shall be not less than one hundred dollars, nor more 
 than five thousand dollars, and, "Provided further, That in 
 case of any such infringement of the copyright of a painting, 
 drawing, statue, engraving, etching, print, or model or de- 
 sign for a work of the fine arts or of a photograph of a work 
 of the fine arts, the sum to be recovered in any action brought 
 through the provisions of this section shall be not less than 
 two hundred and fifty dollars, and not more than ten thou- 
 sand dollars. One-half of all the foregoing penalties shall go 
 to the proprietors of the copyright and the other half to the 
 use of the United States.' 
 
 Sec. 4966. Any person publicly performing or represent- 
 ing any dramatic composition for which a copyright has 
 been obtained, without the consent of the proprietor thereof, 
 or his heirs or assigns, shall be liable for damages therefor ; 
 such damages in all cases to be assessed at such sum, not 
 less than one hundred dollars for the first, and fifty dollars 
 for every subsequent performance, as to the court shall 
 appear to be just. 
 
 Sec. 4967. Every person who shall print or publish any 
 manuscript whatever, without the consent of the author or 
 
 ' This is the provision of the act of March, 
 amended by the Covert act of March, 1895. 
 
®n Securing Copgcigbt 
 
 proprietor first obtained, shall be liable to ttie author or 
 proprietor for all damages occasioned by such injury. 
 
 Sec. 4968. No action shall be maintained in any case of 
 forfeiture or penalty under the copyright laws, unless the 
 same is commenced within two years after the cause of 
 action has arisen. 
 
 Sec. 4969. In all actions arising under the laws respecting 
 copyrights the defendant may plead the general issue, and 
 give the special matter in evidence. 
 
 Sec. 4970. The circuit courts, and district courts having 
 the jurisdiction of circuit courts, shall have power, upon bill 
 in equity, filed by any party aggrieved, to grant injunctions 
 to prevent the violation of any right secured by the laws re- 
 specting copyrights, according to the course and principles 
 of courts of equity, on such terms as the court may deem 
 reasonable. 
 
 Sec. — . [Approved June 18, 1874, to take effect August 
 I, 1874.] In the construction of this act the words " en- 
 graving," "cut," and "print," shall be applied only to 
 pictorial illustrations or works connected with the fine arts, 
 and no prints or labels designed to be used for any other 
 articles of manufacture shall be entered under the copyright 
 law, but may be registered in the Patent Office. And the 
 Commissioner of Patents is hereby charged with the super- 
 vision and control of the entry or registry of such prints or 
 labels, in conformity with the regulations provided by law 
 as to copyright of prints, except that there shall be paid for 
 recording the title of any print or label, not a trade-mark, 
 six dollars, which shall cover the expense of furnishing a 
 copy of the record, under the seal of the Commissioner of 
 Patents, to the party entering the same. 
 
 Sec. — . [Approved August i, 1882.] That manufact- 
 urers of designs for molded decorative articles, tiles, plaques, 
 or articles of pottery or metal, subject to copyright, may put 
 the copyright mark presaibed by section 4962 of the Re- 
 vised Statutes, and acts additional thereto, upon the back or 
 bottom of such articles, or in such other place upon thern as 
 
 Ube 
 
 law of 
 
 Copscigbt 
 
212 
 
 Hutbors an& publfabers 
 
 Securing 
 CopErigbte 
 
 it has heretofore been usual for manufacturers of such arti- 
 cles to employ for the placing of manufacturers', merchants', 
 and trade-marks thereon. 
 
 Sec. 1 1. [Approved March 3, 1891, to take effect July 
 1 , 1891 .] That for the purpose of this act each volume of 
 a book in two or more volumes, when such volumes are 
 published separately, and the first one shall not have been 
 issued before this act shall take effect, and each number of 
 a periodical shall be considered an independent publication, 
 subject to the form of copyrighting as above. 
 
 Sec. 12. That this act shall go into effect on the first day 
 of July, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety-one. 
 
 Sec. 13. [Approved March 3, 1891, to take effect July 1, 
 1891.] That this act shall only apply to a citizen or sub- 
 ject of a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or 
 nation permits to citizens of the United States of America 
 the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as 
 to its own citizens ; or when such foreign state or nation is 
 a party to an international agreement which provides for 
 reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of 
 which agreement the United States of America may at its 
 pleasure become a party to such agreement. The existence 
 of either of the conditions aforesaid shall be determined by 
 the President of the United States, by proclamation made 
 fi'om time to time as the purposes of this act may require. 
 
 Directions for Securing Copyrights. 
 
 Under the Revised Acts of Congress, including the Provisions 
 for Foreign Copyright, by Act of March 3, 1891. 
 
 1 . A printed copy of the title of the book, map, chart, 
 dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, 
 photograph, or chromo, or a description of the painting, 
 drawing, statue, statuary, or model or design for a work of 
 the fine arts, for which copyright is desired, ihust be delivered 
 to the Librarian of Congress or deposited in the mail, within 
 
®n Securing Copstiflbt 
 
 213 
 
 the United States, prepaid, addressed Librarian of Con- 
 gress, JVashington, D. C. This may be done on or before 
 day of publication in this or any foreign country. 
 
 The printed title required may be a copy of the title-page 
 of such publications as have title-pages. In other cases 
 the title must be printed expressly for copyright entry, 
 with the name of claimant of copyright. The style of type 
 is immaterial, and the print of a typewriter will be accepted. 
 But a separate title is required for each entry, and each title 
 must be printed on paper as large as commercial note. The 
 title of a periodical must include the date and number ; and 
 each number of the periodical requires a separate entry of 
 copyright. 
 
 Blank forms of application fiimished to applicants. 
 
 2. The legal fee for recording each copyright claim is 50 
 cents, and for a copy of this record (or certificate of copyright 
 under seal of the office) an additional fee of 50 cents is re- 
 quired, making $1, if certificate is wanted, which will be 
 mailed as soon as reached in the records. 
 
 No money is to be placed in any package of books, music, 
 or other publications. A bank check, to order, avoids all 
 risk. 
 
 For publications which are the productions of persons 
 not citizens or residents of the United States, the fee for 
 recording the title is $1, and 50 cents additional for a copy 
 of the record. Certificates covering more than one entry in 
 one certificate are not issued. 
 
 Bank checks, money orders, and currency only taken for 
 fees. No postage stamps received. 
 
 3. Not later than the day of publication in this country 
 or abroad, two complete copies of the best edition of each 
 book or other article must be delivered, or deposited in the 
 mail within the United States, addressed Librarian of Con- 
 gress, IVashington, D. C, to perfect the copyright. 
 
 The freight or postage must be prepaid, or the publica- 
 tions inclosed in parcels covered by printed penalty labels, 
 furnished by the Librarian, in which case they will come 
 
 Secucins 
 Copsclgbts 
 
214 
 
 Hutbors an& ipublisbers 
 
 Secutfna ■'■^^ ^Y '"^'' (""' express), without limit of weight, accord- 
 (toptrlflbta ing to rulings of the Post-Office Department. Books must 
 be printed from type set in the United States, or from 
 plates made therefrom ; photographs from negatives made 
 in the United States ; chromos and lithographs from draw- 
 ings on stone or transfers therefrom made in the United 
 States. 
 
 Without the deposit of copies above required the copy- 
 right is void, and a penalty of $25 is incurred. No copy is 
 required to be deposited elsewhere. 
 
 The law requires one copy of each new edition, wherein 
 any substantial changes are made, to be deposited with the 
 Librarian of Congress. 
 
 4. No copyright is valid unless notice is given by inserting 
 in every copy published, on the title-page or the page fol- 
 lowing, if it be a book ; or if a map, chart, musical com- 
 position, print, cut, engraving, photograph, painting, draw- 
 ing, chromo, statue, statuary, or model or design intended 
 to be perfected as a work of the fine arts, by inscribing upon 
 some portion thereof, or on the substance on which the same 
 is mounted, the following words, viz. : " Entered according 
 
 to act of Congress, in the year , by , in the 
 
 office of the Librarian of Congress, at IVashington," or, at 
 the option of the person entering the copyright, the words: 
 " Copyright, 18—, by ." 
 
 The law imposes a penalty of $100 upon any person who 
 has not obtained copyright who shall insert the notice, " En- 
 tered according to act of Congress," or " Copyright," or 
 words of the same import, in or upon any book or other 
 article. 
 
 5. The copyright law secures to authors and their assigns 
 the exclusive right to translate or to dramatize any of their 
 works ; no notice or record is required to enforce this 
 right. 
 
 6. The original term of a copyright runs for twenty-eight 
 years. IVithin six months before the end of that time, the 
 author or designer, or his widow or children, may secure a 
 
©n Securing Copsrlgbt 
 
 215 
 
 renewal for the further term of fourteen years, making forty- 
 two years in all. Applications for renewal must be accom- 
 panied by a printed title and fee ; and by explicit statement 
 of ownership, in the case of the author or of relationship, in 
 the case of his heirs, and must state definitely the date and 
 place of entry of the original copyright. Within two months 
 from date of renewal the record thereof must be advertised 
 in an American newspaper for four weeks. 
 
 7. The time of publication is not limited by any law or 
 regulation, but the courts have held that it should take place 
 " within a reasonable time." A copyright may be secured 
 for a projected as well as for a completed work. But the 
 law provides for no caveat, or notice of interference — only 
 for actual entry of title. 
 
 8. Copyrights are assignable by any instrument of writing. 
 Such assignment to be valid, is to be recorded in the office 
 of the Librarian of Congress within sixty days from exe- 
 cution. The fee for this record and certificate is one dollar, 
 and for a certified copy of any record of assignment one 
 dollar. 
 
 9. A copy of the record (or duplicate certificate) of any 
 copyright entry will be flirnished, under seal of the office, at 
 the rate of fifty cents each. 
 
 10. In the case of books published in more than one vol- 
 ume, or of periodicals published in numbers, or of engrav- 
 ings, photography, or other articles published with varia- 
 tions, a copyright must be entered for each volume or part 
 of a book, or number of a periodical, or variety, as to style, 
 title, or inscription, of any other article. To complete the 
 copyright on a book published serially in a periodical, two 
 copies of each serial part as well as of the completed work 
 (if published separately) should be deposited. 
 
 1 1 . To secure copyright for a painting, statue, or model 
 or design intended to be perfected as a work of the fine arts, 
 a definite title and description must accompany the applica- 
 tion for copyright, and a mounted photograph of the same, 
 as large as " cabinet size," mailed to the Librarian of Con- 
 
 Secucing 
 Cspfidgbte 
 
2l6 
 
 autbors an& publfsbers 
 
 Secncfna 8^^^ 1°* '^t^f than the day of publication of the work or 
 Cspsriflbtt design. 
 
 The fine arts, for copyright purposes, include only paint- 
 ing and sculpture, and articles of merely ornamental and 
 decorative art should be sent to the Patent Office, as subjects 
 for design patents. 
 
 12. Copyrights can not be granted upon trade-marks, nor 
 upon names of companies, libraries, or articles, nor upon 
 an idea or device, nor upon prints or labels intended to be 
 used for any article of manufacture. If protection for such 
 names or labels is desired, application must be made to the 
 Patent Office, where they are registered, if admitted, at a fee 
 of $6 for labels, and $25 for trade-marks. 
 
 13. The provisions as to copyright entry in the United 
 States by foreign authors, etc., by act of Congress approved 
 Ma^ch 3, 1891 (which took effect July i, 1891), are the same 
 as the foregoing, except as to productions of persons not 
 citizens or residents, which must cover return postages, and 
 are $1 for entry, or $1.50 for entry and certificate of entry 
 (equivalent to 4s. ^d. or 6s. -jd.). All publications must be 
 delivered to the Librarian at Washington free of charge. 
 The firee penalty labels can not be used outside of the United 
 States. 
 
 The right of citizens or subjects of a foreign nation to 
 copyright in the United States extends by Presidential 
 proclamations to Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, 
 Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, and Switzerland ; and 
 Americans can secure copyright in those countries. For 
 this, direct arrangements must be made abroad. The Li- 
 brarian of Congress can not take charge of any foreign copy- 
 right business.' 
 
 1 4. Every application for a copyright should state distinctly 
 
 ' American authors, artists, and composers who desire to 
 secure for their productions the protection of copyright in 
 the States with which the United States has entered into 
 copyright relations, must fiilfil the requirements of the 
 statutes of those States. — Editor. 
 
®n Securing Copsrigbt 
 
 217 
 
 the full name and residence of the claimant, whether book 
 or other publication, and whether the right is claimed as 
 author, designer, or proprietor. No affidavit or witness to 
 the application is required. 
 
 Office of the Librarian of Congress, 
 Washington, 1895. 
 
 Foreign States with which the United States is 
 in Copyright Relations. 
 
 The provisions of the Act of 189 1 having to 
 do with International Copyright, are (January, 
 1897) in force with the following States : 
 
 Belgium, 
 France, 
 Great Britain, 
 Switzerland, 
 
 By Proclamation of the 
 President, July 4, 1891. 
 
 Germany, by Treaty, March 8, 1892. 
 Italy, by Proclamation, Oct. 31, 1892. 
 Denmark, by Proclamation, May 8, 1893. 
 Portugal, by Proclamation, July 20, 1895. 
 Spain, by Proclamation, July 15, 1895. 
 Mexico, by Proclamation, Feb. 27, 1896. 
 Chile, by Proclamation, May 25, 1896. 
 
 of tbe law 
 ot t89t 
 
 ANALYSIS OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE COPYRIGHT 
 LAW OF 189I. 
 
 The purport of the Chace - Breckinridge- 
 Adams-Simonds-Platt Copyright Act may be 
 briefly summarized as follows : 
 
2l8 
 
 Hutbors an^ ipublisbers 
 
 Bnaltsfs 
 
 of tbe law 
 
 of 1891 
 
 A. — Works of Literature. 
 
 1. Copyright is granted to authors, whether 
 resident or non-resident, for a term of twenty- 
 eight years. A further term of fourteen years 
 (making forty-two years in all) is granted to 
 the author if at the expiration of the first term 
 he is still living, or to his widow or children if 
 he be dead. Unless the author survive the 
 first term or leave widow or children, the 
 copyright is limited to twenty-eight years. 
 
 2. It is made a condition of such copyright 
 for all authors, whether resident or non-resi- 
 dent, that all the editions of the works so 
 copyrighted must be entirely manufactured 
 within the United States ; the term including 
 the setting of the type, as well as the printing 
 and binding of the books. 
 
 This provision was instituted in the new act 
 at the instance of the Typographical Unions, 
 and was insisted upon by them as essential. 
 The Unions were under the apprehension that 
 if international copyright should be established 
 without such condition of American manufac- 
 ture, a large portion of the book manufacturing 
 now done in this country would be transferred 
 across the Atlantic, to the injury of American 
 type-setters and printers, and of the other 
 trades employed in the making of books. 
 
 3. For a non-resident author, the further 
 condition is attached to his American copy- 
 right that the country of which he is a citizen 
 
©n Securing CTopgrigbt 
 
 219 
 
 shall concede to American authors copyright 
 privileges substantially equal to those con- 
 ceded by such foreign state to its own authors. 
 
 4. It is also made a condition (applying to 
 both resident and non-resident authors) that 
 the book securing American copyright shall 
 be published in the United States not later than 
 the date of its publication in any other country. 
 Under the British act now in force, the works 
 of British authors must, in order to preserve 
 their British copyright, be published in Great 
 Britain not later than the date of their publica- 
 tion in any other country. It is, therefore, 
 necessary for English authors to make ar- 
 rangements with their English and American 
 publishers for a simultaneous date of publica- 
 tion for both sides of the Atlantic. 
 
 With the present facilities for the manifold- 
 ing and typewriting of manuscripts, for the 
 transmitting across the Atlantic in a week's 
 time advance proofs or advance sheets, and 
 for making final arrangements by cable, there 
 need be, for the great majority of books likely 
 to be reprinted, no material difficulties in the 
 way of securing this simultaneous publication. 
 
 The provision was believed by many to be 
 an essential part of the condition that all edi- 
 tions of books securing an American copyright 
 must be manufactured in this country. It was 
 argued that, if a term of twelve months or of 
 six months were to be allowed to a foreign 
 
 of tbe Xaw 
 of t80t 
 
Hutbors an5 ipublf sbers 
 
 of tbe law 
 oftset 
 
 author within which to complete arrange- 
 ments for his American editions, the import- 
 ation of the foreign editions during such term 
 must be either prohibited or permitted. In 
 the former case, American readers might, for 
 an indefinite period, be prevented from secur- 
 ing any copies at all of new English books, a 
 delay which would certainly bring about pop- 
 ular indignation. In the second case, the 
 American market could be to some extent 
 supplied with English editions before any 
 American editions were in readiness, and by 
 the time the English author was ready to sell 
 his American copyright he would find that 
 such copyright possessed very little market 
 value. 
 
 The status of the foreign book during such 
 interregnum must in any case be an anoma- 
 lous one, and would be likely to cause com- 
 plications. 
 
 The assertion has been made that the pro- 
 vision for simultaneous publication was in- 
 serted by the publishers with the malicious 
 purpose of preventing the less known British 
 authors, who might not be in a position to 
 make advance arrangements for their Ameri- 
 can editions, from securing under the act any 
 American copyright. 
 
 It is evident, however, that the publishers 
 who were interested in framing the bill were 
 not actuated by any such Machiavellian inten- 
 
 _ 
 
©n Sccuriitfi Copgrigbt 
 
 tions. It had been made clear that interna- 
 tional copyright was expected to prove a 
 business advantage to all the legitimate pub- 
 lishers engaged in reprinting English books, 
 for the simple reason that larger profits could 
 be secured by controlling the market for au- 
 thorized editions (even when these were sold 
 at the lowest popular prices) than by dividing 
 the market with a number of unauthorized 
 editions. This being the case, it was of course 
 to the interest of the publishers to secure the 
 protection of American copyright for as many 
 foreign works as possible, and the throwing 
 over of any books to the unauthorized reprint- 
 ers would entail loss upon publishers as well 
 as upon authors. 
 
 It was also, however, the belief of the pub- 
 lishers, in accepting this provision with the 
 other typographical conditions, that there need 
 be no difficulty in arranging to protect the 
 works of new authors as well as those of the 
 well-known writers. 
 
 It seems probable, also, taking into account 
 all the considerations, that the provision for 
 simultaneous publication is unavoidable as 
 long as the other restrictions in the act are 
 retained. When these can be spared, the 
 International Copyright Law of the United 
 States can properly be brought under the pro- 
 visions of the Berne Convention. 
 
 5. The regulations previously in force for 
 
 ot tbe law 
 ot 1891 
 
Hutbors and ipubltsbers 
 
 s{ tbe Xaw 
 of iset 
 
 making the entries of copyrigiit are continued, 
 and two copies of tlie book, together with one 
 copy of its printed title-page, are to be de- 
 livered, on or before the day of publication, at 
 the office of the Librarian of Congress, to- 
 gether with a fee for the entry of the title, 
 such fee being, in the case of an American 
 author, fifty cents, and in the case of a foreign 
 author, one dollar. 
 
 6. While the importation, during the exist- 
 ence of the American copyright, oi editions of 
 the books so copyrighted, whether the authors 
 of the same be American or foreign, is pro- 
 hibited, the importation of such books is per- 
 mitted to the extent of not to exceed two 
 copies in any one invoice, said copies being 
 certified to be "for use and not for sale." 
 Buyers of foreign books which have secured 
 an American copyright, who may prefer for 
 their libraries the foreign editions of such 
 books, are, under this provision, enabled to 
 import, either direct or through an importer, 
 not to exceed two copies of such editions. 
 This provision apparently permits the import- 
 ation (not exceeding two copies in any one 
 shipment) of unauthorized as well as of au- 
 thorized foreign e^ditions of books which have 
 been copyrighted in the United States. 
 
 7. Foreign periodicals of which there are no 
 American editions "printed from type set in 
 the United States," can not secure for their 
 
©n Securing Cop^rigbt 
 
 223 
 
 contents an American copyright. The im- 
 portation of such periodicals is left unrestrict- 
 ed, except for such numbers as may contain 
 unauthorized reprints of material which has 
 already in some other form secured an Ameri- 
 can copyright. 
 
 An English author who copyrights and 
 publishes in the United States a volume, some 
 chapters of which have previously been print- 
 ed in an English magazine, will probably not 
 be in a position to prevent the reprinting in 
 the United States of an unauthorized issue of 
 the material contained in such chapters. For 
 this portion of his volume no American copy- 
 right can, under the present act, be secured. 
 In case all the chapters in the volume have 
 already appeared in a foreign periodical, its 
 American copyright has been forfeited. The 
 difficulty has occasionally been met by arrang- 
 ing for the separate publication (if necessary 
 in pamphlet form) of American issues of cer- 
 tain divisions of the serial, entering these for 
 copyright in Washington prior to the publica- 
 tion in England of the numbers of the period- 
 ical containing them. 
 
 8. For the purpose of enforcing the pro- 
 hibition of the importation of editions of books 
 securing American copyright, weekly lists of 
 the books of which the copyright has been 
 completed are furnished by the Librarian of 
 Congress to the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 
 Hnalssis 
 
 of tbe law 
 
 of isai 
 
224 
 
 Hutbors an& iPubUsbers 
 
 of tbe law 
 of t89l 
 
 and by the Secretary to the various customs 
 officers concerned. 
 
 The non-importation provision makes the 
 status of books by foreign authors, which have 
 secured an American copyright, practically 
 identical with that heretofore in force for 
 copyrighted American works, the importation 
 of foreign editions of which has of necessity 
 always been prohibited. The whole theory 
 of copyright rests on the exclusive control by 
 the author of a specific territory. An author 
 to whom, under domestic or international 
 law, such a control has been conceded, has 
 something to sell for which he can convey a 
 clear title, and for which, therefore, he is in a 
 position to secure a price representing the full 
 market value of his production. An author 
 who can convey to his publisher, in place of 
 an exclusive territory, only the right to com- 
 pete with an indefinite number of other pub- 
 lishers of the same work, has no real "copy- 
 right " to sell, and the compensation that he 
 can secure will be of necessity comparatively 
 inconsiderable. 
 
 The so-called Sherman amendment, which 
 was discussed at some length during the con- 
 sideration of the present act, authorized the 
 importation of foreign editions of works by 
 foreign authors securing American copyright. 
 It was finally rejected on the several grounds: 
 that it was incompatible with the other sec- 
 
Qn Securing Copsridbt 
 
 225 
 
 tions of the act, which provided for the 
 American manufacture of all books securing 
 American copyright ; that it was inconsistent 
 with the purpose of the act to place on a 
 uniform status all books copyrighted here, 
 whether of American or foreign origin; and 
 that it was inconsistent with the essential 
 condition of "copyright," which stands for 
 an exclusive right to the " copy " for a specific 
 territory and for a specific term. The op- 
 ponents of the amendment cited, as an instance 
 of territorial copyright, the case of the author- 
 ized Tauchnitz and Asher editions of the 
 books of British authors, which, while copy- 
 right on the Continent, would, if imported 
 into Great Britain, be infringements, and the 
 importations of which into Great Britain had, 
 therefore, always been prohibited. 
 
 The Sherman amendment, in its original 
 form, authorized the importation of foreign 
 editions of books by American as well as by 
 foreign authors, and did not even stipulate for 
 the permission of the authors; and in this 
 form it would of necessity have rendered null 
 and void domestic as well as international 
 copyright. While such a result was doubtless 
 not the intention of the mover. Senator Sher- 
 man, of Ohio, or of Senators Hale, Plumb, 
 Carlisle, Daniels, and the others who supported 
 him, this original amendment was actually 
 carried in the Senate by a vote of 25 to 24. It 
 
 Bnal^sie 
 
 of tbe Xavp 
 
 ot 180t 
 
226 
 
 autbors an5 publlsbers 
 
 of tbe law 
 of 189t 
 
 was rescinded three days later, after its actual 
 purport had been made clear by outside criti- 
 cism. In its corrected shape, in which it 
 authorized the importation of foreign editions 
 of books by foreign authors only, it was finally 
 defeated by the vote of 21 to 28. The whole 
 episode was a noteworthy instance of slovenly 
 and hap-hazard legislation. 
 
 9. The foreign author possesses under the 
 act the same control over translations of his 
 books as has previously been possessed by 
 the American author, and such translations 
 can hereafter be issued only under his author- 
 ization. This provision gives, namely, to 
 German and French authors the control of the 
 issue in this country of English versions of 
 their books, and to English authors a similar 
 control, not only over a reprint in English, 
 but over one made, for instance, in German. 
 There is, however, no prohibition of the im- 
 portation of an edition of a book printed in a 
 language other than that in which it has se- 
 cured its American copyright. 
 
 B.— Works of Art. 
 
 Foreign artists and designers are accorded 
 the same term or terms of copyright as those 
 given to foreign authors (and to domestic 
 artists). 
 
 The condition of American manufacture is 
 attached to the copyright of reproductions in 
 the form of chromos, lithographs, or photo- 
 
®n Securing Copsrfgbt 
 
 227 
 
 graphs. American manufacture was, how- 
 ever, not made a condition of the more artistic 
 forms of reproductions, and foreign artists are, 
 therefore, now in a position to control the 
 American copyright of engravings or photo- 
 gravures of their productions, whether these 
 engravings, etc., are "manufactured" in 
 Europe or in the United States. This pro- 
 vision is held by the artists and art publishers 
 of France, who have in the past years suffered 
 severely from American ' ' appropriations " of 
 their productions, to be of special importance. 
 
 C. — Music. 
 
 Musical compositions by foreign composers 
 are accorded the same terms of American 
 copyright as those given to American com- 
 positions, and for productions of this class 
 American manufacture is not made a condition 
 of the copyright. 
 
 The condition of reciprocity applies to the 
 copyright of both music and art. 
 
 General Suggestions. 
 
 The details of making the entry of copy- 
 right and of securing the certificates are, as a 
 rule, attended to by the publishers, and even 
 when the author retains the ownership of his 
 copyright, it is not infrequent for the certificate 
 to be made out in the name of the publisher. 
 The agreement for publication and the an- 
 nual or semi-annual statements showing the 
 
 (Senecal 
 
 Suggees 
 
 tions 
 
228 
 
 autbora an& pubUsbers 
 
 Oenecal 
 
 SuggeSB 
 
 tiong 
 
 amounts due to the author for royalties for his 
 copyrights, give sufficient evidence as to the 
 actual ownership of this. There is also no- 
 thing to prevent the certificate from being 
 transferred to the name of the author in case 
 such additional precaution may be deemed 
 advisable. 
 
 The measures which are requisite for secur- 
 ing copyright in Great Britain or in other states 
 which are now in copyright relations with the 
 United States, for a work by an American au- 
 thor, can, as a rule, be taken most conveniently 
 by the publishers. The delivery of the copies 
 to the copyright offices or official libraries re- 
 quired under the provisions of the European 
 acts, must, as a rule, be made through some 
 publishing concern or publishing agent having 
 residence in the country in which the foreign 
 copyright is secured. The American publish- 
 ing Houses which have branches in Great 
 Britain are, of course, in a position to make 
 entry direct, in their own names on behalf of 
 themselves or their authors, of the works to 
 be copyrighted in Great Britain, and, under 
 the provisions of the Berne Convention, the 
 entry of the book at Stationers' Hall in London 
 serves also to protect the work so entered in 
 all the states which are parties to the Conven- 
 tion. 
 
 Under the conditions of the British Copy- 
 right Act, it is necessary to deposit five copies 
 
®n Securing Cop^cigbt 229 
 
 of each copyrighted book in the five libraries ©enetai 
 designated in the Act. This regulation is, in ®j3/' 
 fact, enforced in the case of all books issued in 
 Great Britain with a British publishing im- 
 print, whether or not it may be desired to 
 secure for such books the protection of British 
 copyright. The provision becomes of neces- 
 sity somewhat burdensome in the cases of 
 costly works or sets published by Houses 
 which do business on both sides of the At- 
 lantic, and which place upon their title-pages 
 such an imprint as "New York and London." 
 The protection of copyright is extended not 
 only to material which is in itself original, but 
 also to any originality of method or arrange- 
 ment in the combination or classification of 
 material. Under this principle copyrights are 
 secured for dictionaries, in which of necessity 
 the majority of the definitions must be sub- 
 stantially identical with those given in pre- 
 vious similar works ; for tables of arithmetic 
 or of chronology, and for schedules in natural 
 history in which tables and schedules the facts 
 are of necessity always the same. We may 
 mention as an example the decision of a New 
 York Court to the effect that a certain arrange- 
 ment of anatomical names, grouped in more 
 or less arbitrary figures designed to assist the 
 student in memorizing, was entitled to copy- 
 right, although the same lists of names are of 
 course published in every work on anatomy. 
 
23° 
 
 Hutbors an& ©ublisbers 
 
 General 
 
 Suggeta 
 
 tions 
 
 Under the provisions of the American Act, 
 there is no copyright in a title unless and until 
 the work for which such title has been selected 
 has been printed in its complete form, and two 
 copies of the same have been deposited in the 
 Library of Congress. It occasionally happens 
 that an author, while considering arrange- 
 ments for the publication of a work, being 
 anxious to secure the control of some promis- 
 ing title, has his title-page put into type and 
 forwards this with the copyright fee to the 
 Librarian of Congress. It should be under- 
 stood, however, that until the copyright has 
 been perfected by the deposit of two copies of 
 the book itself, the author is not in a position 
 to control the title selected by him, and the 
 law would not aid him to prevent such title 
 from being appropriated by some other appli- 
 cant who might be able to make an earlier 
 deposit of his completed volume. 
 
 Any measures which may become necessary 
 for the protection of an author's copyright 
 against infringements are usually undertaken 
 by the publisher, who acts as a representative 
 of the author ; but the expense of such meas- 
 ures has to be borne by the author whose prop- 
 erty is being defended. In like manner, any 
 suit which may be instituted against a pub- 
 lication alleged to be an infringement, is usu- 
 ally brought against the publisher of the work ; 
 but whether or not it may be established that 
 
©n Securing Copsrigbt 
 
 231 
 
 such work does constitute or contain an in- 
 fringement, all expenses, penalties, and out- 
 lays that may for this cause have been in- 
 curred, are chargeable to the author or editor 
 with whom th^ publisher's contract has been 
 made. Such contract contains the provision 
 that the author or editor with whom the 
 publisher comes into relations, and who claims 
 to be the owner of the copyright of the work, 
 shall make good to the publisher any expense 
 incurred in defending such copyright, and that 
 he shall also guarantee to the publisher that the 
 work contains no infringement of any other 
 copyright and no libels of any kind ; if, there- 
 fore, such infringement or libels be later dis- 
 covered, the responsibility and the cost of mak- 
 ing good the same must be borne by the author. 
 Contracts for publication usually contain 
 some provision concerning the division be- 
 tween publisher and author of such profits as 
 may accrue through the sale in foreign coun- 
 tries of editions of the work, or of duplicates 
 of the electrotype plates, or of advance sheets. 
 It is customary to divide these receipts secured 
 from abroad on the same basis as that which 
 has been arranged for the division of the net 
 proceeds of the American editions. An au- 
 thor may sometimes prefer that the control of 
 the arrangements for the foreign editions of 
 his work shall be left in his own hands. In 
 most cases, however, his American publisher, 
 
 (Beiiecal 
 tions 
 
232 
 
 autbors an& publfsbers 
 
 Oeneral 
 
 Suggesa 
 
 tions 
 
 having a knowledge of the methods of pub- 
 lishing in England and on the Continent, is in 
 a position to secure a better arrangement for 
 an English or Continental edition than could 
 easily be arrived at by the author. In case 
 the American publisher may have a branch 
 House in England, it is, as a rule, not neces- 
 sary to make any special provision in the 
 publishing agreement concerning the receipts 
 from sales abroad. In the absence of any 
 specific stipulation, copies so sold can be ac- 
 counted for at the same rate of royalty as that 
 fixed for the sales in the United States. While 
 the rate may remain the same (ten per cent, 
 or more, as the case may be), the actual 
 amount of the royalty per copy may easily be 
 less for sales in Great Britain than for those 
 made in the United States. It is often ad- 
 visable, in issuing American books in Great 
 Britain, to make the English selling price 
 somewhat lower than the precise equivalent 
 in sterling of the American currency price. 
 For instance, a book published in the United 
 States at 75 cents would, as a rule, be issued 
 in London at as. 6d. If the volume were sub- 
 ject to a ten-per-cent. royalty, the payment 
 for the English sales would be not 7J cents 
 but 6 cents per volume. The book published 
 in New York at $1.00 would usually be issued 
 in London at }s. 6d., and the royalty would 
 be not 10 cents per copy but 8^ cents per copy. 
 
233 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Ube /iDaMttd of :ssoof;s 
 
 * 
 
 Zbc preparation of tbe /iDanuscrlpt 
 
 * 
 
 ^gpesetttng, JEIectrotsptng, pressworft, 
 
 and Binding 
 
 By j. b. p. 
 
Ube /TOaftfng of JSoofts. 
 
 235 
 
 SECOND only in importance to a knowledge 
 of the general relations which should 
 exist between authors and their publishers, is 
 the desirability that those who prepare manu- 
 script for the press should, before placing their 
 material in the printer's hands, obtain some 
 little familiarity with the mechanical operations 
 of bookmaking. 
 
 It is not the intention in this volume to 
 attempt a treatise on bookmaking, but merely 
 to offer a few suggestions to authors, and 
 some general description of the various de- 
 tails of printing and binding. 
 
 Ube 
 
 pcepacas 
 
 tfon of 
 
 tbe fl>anus 
 
 script 
 
 The 'Preparation of the Manuscript. 
 
 I. Write on small sheets of paper, — com- 
 mercial note or letter size is better than a 
 larger sheet. Write legibly and on one side 
 of the sheet only, and avoid, as far as possible, 
 all interlineations. Copy is frequently brought 
 to the printer in such an illegible condition as 
 to make it necessary that it should be type- 
 
236 
 
 Hutbors and ipublisbers 
 
 pceparas 
 tion of 
 
 tbe Aanus 
 sctipt 
 
 written before being placed in the hands of 
 the compositors. 
 
 II. The sheets of manuscript should be of 
 uniform size and should contain, as nearly as 
 possible, the same number of lines ; this facili- 
 tates the work of estimating the amount of 
 matter and the cost of printing. 
 
 III. Copy should in all cases be paged con- 
 secutively throughout. 
 
 If prepared with uniformity as noted above 
 it is a comparatively simple matter to count 
 the number of words in the copy, and it is 
 very desirable that the author should have this 
 knowledge in talking with publisher or 
 printer, as upon the size often depends, in no 
 small degree, the availability of a given 
 manuscript. 
 
 As a rule, there exists in the mind of the 
 writer a very hazy impression as to the 
 amount of material contained in a manuscript, 
 and the author is apt to refer to the same as 
 "about the size of an ordinary book." Absurd 
 as this may appear to any one giving the 
 matter a moment's consideration, this total 
 lack of precision is the rule rather than the 
 exception on the part of those who apply to 
 printing-offices for estimates. 
 
 If the printer is advised as to the number of 
 thousand words the material contains and a 
 decision is arrived at as to the general form of 
 the proposed volume, it is comparatively an 
 
Ube /IDalking of 3Boo?;s 
 
 237 
 
 easy matter to furnish the desired figures, but 
 without these data all estimates must be mis- 
 leading, and as a rule, reputable Houses decline 
 to furnish approximate estimates of manufact- 
 uring costs. 
 
 Given the knowledge of the number of thou- 
 sand words in the manuscript, the first question 
 to decide in making up an estimate is as to the 
 form of the proposed volume. If the material 
 is designed for popular sale, then a selection of 
 type, page, paper, and binding must be made 
 which will keep the cost down to a moderate 
 figure, and thus admit of a low publication price 
 for the work. If on the other hand the volume 
 is addressed to a more limited class of readers, 
 a higher retail price can probably be obtained, 
 and it may thus be desirable to plan the 
 volume on an entirely different basis and 
 make a larger and handsomer book. 
 
 The expressions "quarto," "octavo," etc., 
 which in former times designated, with toler- 
 able accuracy, the size of the printed book, 
 can now, by no means be depended upon. 
 As will readily be appreciated, the terms refer 
 to the number of folds the sheet receives in 
 binding. In former years but very little variety 
 was used in the size of the sheets of printing 
 paper, hence the number of folds, "four," 
 "eight," or "sixteen," would indicate fairly 
 well the size of the leaf of the volume desig- 
 nated. Now, however, the sizes of printing 
 
 SXmens 
 
 sions ot 
 
 Soolig 
 
238 
 
 Hutbors an& publisbers 
 
 Si3(s at 
 
 paper are practically endless, — indeed, almost 
 every publisher has special sizes made for his 
 exclusive use. 
 
 The best authorities give the following 
 dimensions as most nearly covering the various 
 technical sizes of books as now printed : 
 
 
 SIZE m INCHES. 
 
 HEIGHT BY METRIC 
 SYSTEM. 
 
 32mo 
 
 3f X 4f 
 
 • 'H 
 
 centimetres 
 
 24010 
 
 3Ax 5J 
 
 • >5 
 
 tt 
 
 i6mo, or sixteenmo 
 
 3l X 6i 
 
 . ni 
 
 " 
 
 i2mo, or twelvemo 
 
 4J X 7i 
 
 20 
 
 ** 
 
 Crown octavo 
 
 5i X 8| 
 
 
 
 Regular " 
 
 6 X 9i 
 
 • 25 
 
 (( 
 
 Royal 
 
 61 xiof 
 
 
 
 Imperial " 
 
 7i X iif 
 
 
 
 Quarto 
 
 8i XI2f 
 
 • 30 
 
 <( 
 
 When a decision has been arrived at in 
 regard to the general dimensions of the pro- 
 posed volume, the next question is as to the 
 size of type and the character of the printed 
 page. The amount of material to be printed 
 will, of course, in a large measure, determine 
 the size of the type to be used, and, as a rule, 
 the greater the number of words the smaller 
 the type selected. 
 
 The sizes of type more generally used in 
 bookwork are four, namely. Pica, Small Pica, 
 Long Primer, and Brevier. The appearance 
 of the page is somewhat varied by the intro- 
 duction between the lines of thin pieces of 
 
Ube /IDafting of Boofts 
 
 239 
 
 metal called "leads," which give to the type 
 a more open effect. We present on the fol- 
 lowing pages specimens of these types. All 
 these are set with one lead. If set "solid," 
 that is, without the lines being separated by 
 leads, the page, of course, will contain more 
 matter but will, on the other hand, lose some- 
 what in legibility. 
 
 Specimen 
 
 of 
 
 •ttjpe 
 
240 autbors an& publisbers 
 
 PICA TYPE LEADED. 
 
 Specimen J havc often obscrved that the more 
 
 Of 
 
 UBpe proudly a mansion has been tenanted 
 in the day of its prosperity, the humbler 
 are its inhabitants in the day of its de- 
 cline, and that the palace of a king 
 commonly ends in being the nesting- 
 place of the beggar. 
 
 The Alhambra is in a rapid state of 
 similar transition. Whenever a tower 
 falls to decay, it is seized upon by some 
 tatterdemalion family, who become 
 joint-tenants with the bats and owls of 
 its gilded halls; and hang their rags, 
 those standards of poverty, out of its 
 windows and loop-holes. 
 
 I have amused myself with remarking 
 some of the motley characters that have 
 thus usurped the ancient abode of roy- 
 alty, and who seem as if placed there 
 to give a farcical termination to the 
 drama of human pride. One of these 
 even bears the mockery of a regal title. 
 It is a little old woman named Maria 
 Antonia Sabonea, but who goes by the 
 appellation of la Reyna Coquina, or the 
 Cockle-queen. She is small enough to 
 
'Sbe /lDal:ind ot 3BooI;s 
 
 241 
 
 Specimen 
 of 
 
 SMALL PICA TYPE LEADED. 
 
 I have often observed that the more 
 proudly a mansion has been tenanted in the 
 day of its prosperity, the humbler are its in- 
 habitants in the day of its decline, and that 
 the palace of a king commonly ends in being 
 the nesting-place of the beggar. 
 
 The Alhambra is in a rapid state of similar 
 transition. Whenever a tower falls to decay, 
 it is seized upon by some tatterdemalion 
 family, who become joint-tenants with the 
 bats and owls of its gilded halls ; and hang 
 their rags, those standards of poverty, out of 
 its windows and loop-holes. 
 
 I have amused myself with remarking 
 some of the motley characters that have 
 thus usurped the ancient abode of royalty, 
 and who seem as if placed there to give a 
 farcical termination to the drama of human 
 pride. One of these even bears the mockery 
 of a regal title. It is a little old woman 
 named Maria Antonia Sabonea, but who 
 goes by the appellation of la Reyna Coquina, 
 or the Cockle-queen. She is small enough 
 to be a fairy ; and a fairy she may be for 
 aught I can find out, for no one seems to 
 know her origin. Her habitation is in a kind 
 of closet under the outer staircase of the 
 palace, and she sits in the cool stone corridor, 
 plying her needle and singing from morning 
 
242 
 
 Htttbors an5 pu&Usbcrs 
 
 Spedmen 
 of 
 
 Uspc 
 
 LONG PRIMER TYPE LEADED. 
 
 I have often observed that the more proudly 
 a mansion has been tenanted in the day of its 
 prosperity, the humbler are its inhabitants in the 
 day of its decline, and that the palace of a king 
 commonly ends in being the nesting-place of 
 the beggar. 
 
 The Alhambra is in a rapid state of similar 
 transition. Whenever a tower falls to decay, it 
 is seized upon by some tatterdemalion family, 
 who become joint-tenants with the bats and owls 
 of its gilded halls ; and hang their rags, those 
 standards of poverty, out of its windows and 
 loop-holes. 
 
 I have amused myself with remarking some 
 of the motley characters that have thus usurped 
 the ancient abode of royalty, and who seem as 
 if placed there to give a farcical termination to 
 the drama of human pride. One of these even 
 bears the mockery of a regal title. It is a little 
 old woman named Maria Antonia Sabonea, but 
 who goes by the appellation of la Reyna Coquina, 
 or the Cockle-queen. She is small enough to be 
 a fairy ; and a fairy she may be for aught I can 
 find out, for no one seems to know her origin. 
 Her habitation is in a kind of closet under the 
 outer staircase of the palace, and she sits in the 
 cool stone corridor, plying her needle and sing- 
 ing from morning till night, with a ready joke 
 for every one that passes ; for though one of 
 the poorest, she is one of the merriest little 
 women breathing. Her great merit is a gift for 
 
tibe /iDaftfng of Boofts 
 
 243 
 
 BREVIER TYPE LEADED. 
 
 I have often observed that the more proudly a mansion 
 has been tenanted in the day of its prosperity, the humbler 
 are its inhabitants in the day of its decline, and that the 
 palace of a king commonly ends in being the nesting-place 
 of the beggar. 
 
 The Alhambra is in a rapid state of similar transition. 
 Whenever a tower falls to decay, it is seized upon by some 
 tatterdemalion family, v^ho become joint-tenants with the 
 bats and owls of its gilded halls ; and hang their rags, those 
 standards of poverty, out of its windows and loop-holes. 
 
 I have amused myself with remarking some of the motley 
 characters that have thus usurped the ancient abode of 
 royalty, and who seem as if placed there to give a farcical 
 termination to the drama of human pride. One of these 
 even bears the mockery of a regal title. It is a little old 
 woman named Maria Antonia Sabonea, but who goes by 
 the appellation of la Reyna Coquina, or the Cockle-queen. 
 She is small enough to be a fairy ; and a. fairy she may be 
 for aught I can find out, for no one seems to know her 
 origin. Her habitation is in a kind of closet under the 
 outer staircase of the palace, and she sits in the cool stone 
 corridor, plying her needle and singing from morning 
 till night, with a ready joke for every one that passes ; for 
 though one of the poorest, she is one of the merriest little 
 women breathing. Her great merit is a gift for story- 
 telling, having, I verily believe, as many stories at her 
 command as the inexhaustible Scheherezade of the Thou- 
 sand and One Nights. Some of these I have heard her 
 relate in the evening tertulias of Dame Antonia, at which 
 she is occasionally a humble attendant. 
 
 That there must be some fairy gift about this mysterious 
 little old woman, would appear from her extraordinary 
 luck, since, notwithstanding her being very little, very 
 ugly, and very poor, she has had, according to her account, 
 five husbands and a half, reckoning as a half one a young 
 dragoon who died during courtship. A rival personage to 
 
 Specimen 
 of 
 
 U^pe 
 
244 
 
 Hutbors anO ipu&Iisbers 
 
 H pcopccit 
 
 propoca 
 tionei) page 
 
 Now that the size and face of type to be 
 used is decided upon, and, approximately, the 
 number of words the page should contain, the 
 next point to be considered is as to the propor- 
 tion of the page. Until comparatively recent 
 years it was the custom to make the printed 
 page much more nearly square than is now 
 thought good form. At present well planned 
 pages are longer and narrower. The rule es- 
 tablished by good authorities in order that a 
 page should be well proportioned and agree- 
 able to the eye is to make the width of the 
 page one half the diagonal length from corner 
 to corner. 
 
 The next details to be considered are the 
 questions of headlines, folios, side-notes, etc. 
 In many books, notably nbvels, the use of 
 headlines or captions on the right hand or odd 
 page is designed to suggest the contents of 
 the page, and is considered of no little advan- 
 tage to the appearance of the volume. 
 
 If the headlines are long, it is sometimes 
 good form to place the folios or page numbers 
 at the bottom of the page instead of at the 
 top. When the character of the material calls 
 for side — or running-notes, it is a question 
 as to whether these should be placed on the 
 outer margin of the page or " boxed," that is, 
 inserted inside of the page in different and 
 distinct type. Many other details might be 
 mentioned which have to be considered and 
 
Zbc /BbalJing ot Boofts 
 
 245 
 
 decided upon before the manuscript can prop- 
 erly be placed in tiie hands of the compositor. 
 It is quite evident that these decisions depend 
 very largely on the general character of the 
 special work in hand, but they none the less 
 call for the exercise of some judgment if a 
 well proportioned and attractive-looking vol- 
 ume is desired. The distinction between such 
 a volume and one carelessly printed, without 
 a proper appreciation of good work, is often 
 somewhat intangible, but it is, nevertheless, 
 very real even to those who possess no tech- 
 nical knowledge of bookmaking, but who 
 still appreciate a well proportioned and well 
 printed volume. 
 
 Measuring Type. — The standard of measure 
 in typesetting in the United States is the 
 "em," or the square of the letter " m " used. 
 In other words, the compositor is paid for 
 the number of "ems " he sets, and, of course, 
 the smaller the type the greater the number 
 of ems in a given page. This should be borne 
 in mind, for it not infrequently occurs that 
 after a work has been estimated to make a 
 certain number of pages in one type, the au- 
 thor decides to reduce the size of this type, or 
 perhaps set a portion of his matter in smaller 
 type, and he is surprised that the reduction in 
 the number of pages does not make the cost 
 of his volume correspondingly less. As a 
 matter of fact, there will be the same number 
 
 tDcueutlng 
 
246 
 
 Hutbors anb iPubUsbers 
 
 Composfa 
 tion 
 
 of ems in the complete manuscript whether 
 the type be large or small, and the compositor 
 justly receives the same compensation for set- 
 ting say one hundred pages of long primer as 
 he does for one hundred and fifty pages of 
 pica. When the type of a book is mixed, each 
 size is measured for itself. 
 
 Composition. — When the manuscript is ready 
 for the compositor it is given out by the fore- 
 man of the composing-room in small divisions 
 called "takes," and these are handed out to 
 the compositors engaged upon the work in 
 rotation. It is customary to post upon the 
 bulletin board in the composing-room general 
 instructions covering any special directions to 
 the compositors engaged upon each work. 
 Authors should bear in mind that often from 
 ten to twenty compositors are assigned to the 
 setting of a book, and consequently each one 
 of these hands sets but a very small portion of 
 the matter. There is, therefore, a greater risk 
 of lack of uniformity in the typesetting than 
 would be the case if the work could be done by 
 one compositor. It is, of course, the duty of 
 the proof-reader to correct these irregularities 
 as far as possible in his first reading and be- 
 fore the proof is seen by the author. 
 
 The instructions referred to specify the size 
 of the page, whether the page is to be leaded 
 or solid, style of initials, headpieces, running 
 captions, the type required for quoted matter 
 
Zbc Rafting of Boofts 247 
 
 and notes, and indeed any other directions «fflce 
 which may be specially required for the par- *'""* 
 ticular work in hand. As each compositor 
 sets the copy assigned to him, he places the 
 matter in a receptacle called a ' ' galley, " having 
 first headed it with his "slug number" to 
 identify it, and enable him to receive the 
 proper credit for his work. 
 
 Office Proof. — The type is now taken to 
 the hand-press and a proof "pulled" from it, 
 which proof, together with the manuscript 
 copy, is sent to the reader. This is called 
 "office proof," and it is corrected by the 
 proof-reader, assisted by a copyholder read- 
 ing aloud the manuscript, word by word. 
 This proof is now returned to the compos- 
 itor, who is required to make, at his own 
 expense, all corrections needed to make the 
 proof conform to the copy. This office proof 
 is often, to use a printer's term, very "foul," 
 because of the carelessness of the compositor, 
 who, however, suffers from his lack of accu- 
 racy, as he has to overcome all this "foulness," 
 and prepare a clean proof for the author. 
 
 Author's Proof. — This second proof, termed 
 "author's," is given to an assistant who com- 
 pares it with the office proof to make sure 
 that all of the compositor's errors have been 
 properly rectified. The proof is then stamped 
 with the date, and, with the manuscript copy, 
 is despatched to the author. 
 
248 
 
 Hutbors an& pubUsbers 
 
 Butbot'f 
 proof 
 
 The author now for the first time sees his 
 ideas in cold type, and even those who have 
 prepared much "copy" for the press, are not 
 infrequently surprised at its changed appear- 
 ance when the proof comes from the printer. 
 And here begins one of the most trying phases 
 in the relations between author and printer, 
 caused by the former finding it imperative to 
 revise his matter in proof and to make it con- 
 form to his changed ideas. These "extra 
 corrections " are the bugbear of all well regu- 
 lated printing-offices, for even an author who 
 is reasonable about other matters, finds it very 
 difficult to believe that an injustice has not 
 been committed in debiting him with a charge 
 for the time required to make these changes. 
 Nearly all such expense can be avoided if the 
 manuscript is properly prepared before being 
 placed in the printer's hands, but this is a pre- 
 caution which very few authors are willing to 
 take. The amount of such work called for by 
 different authors varies greatly. Many writers 
 scarcely alter a word even in a large volume, 
 while others appear to find it difficult to avoid 
 reconstructing almost every sentence in the 
 proof. One author whom we recall possessed 
 a realizing sense of his peculiarities in this re- 
 spect, and was in the habit of having his ma- 
 terial set twice — the first time in large type, 
 which was carefully revised in slip form, after 
 which the matter was reset in the type in 
 
Zbc Rafting of aBoofts 
 
 249 
 
 which it was finally to appear. In the second 
 proof scarcely a word was changed. This 
 was before the time of typewriters, and such 
 a course can scarcely be recommended to any 
 but those to whom expense is of little con- 
 sequence, but it at least had the advantage of 
 eliminating the annoying, and frequently dis- 
 puted, charge for extra corrections. 
 
 The main difficulty in connection with these 
 changes in the proof is due to an ignorance on 
 the part of the author as to the time required 
 to effect the alterations demanded. For in- 
 stance, the introduction of a word or two in 
 a sentence not only makes it necessary to 
 reset one line, but usually calls for the "over- 
 running " or readjustment of each line to the 
 end of the sentence. A similar condition of 
 things exists when a word or two is elimin- 
 ated in the proof unless other words of the 
 same length are substituted. 
 
 Sometimes again the author decides, on 
 examining his proof, that certain extract 
 matter will look better if set in smaller type 
 than that used in the body of the text. Of 
 course, this means not only a double setting 
 of the material in question, but in addition 
 (if the proof be in pages) the* "overrunning" 
 of all the pages made up. If this almost 
 self-evident proposition is borne in mind by 
 the author, much vexatious expense may be 
 avoided. 
 
 Ettra Coca 
 cections 
 
2S0 
 
 Hutbors anb ipubllsbers 
 
 (CMtOf 
 
 £rtra Core 
 tections 
 
 In ordinary work, it is customary to submit 
 to the author two proofs — the first or "galley 
 proof" being sent with the manuscript copy 
 for the author's careful reading. This is 
 stamped "author's," and it is not taken until 
 an " office proof" has been read by the regu- 
 lar proof-reader, word by word, with the 
 manuscript. It is then corrected and a revise 
 or clean proof " pulled " for the author. Upon 
 the return of the latter proof, the corrections 
 of printer's errors are first attended to, as the 
 responsibility for these clearly rests with the 
 printer. Then the "author's changes" are 
 made, and the time required for this last part 
 of the work is charged to the author. 
 
 The proof now goes to the second reader 
 for revision, after which the type is locked up 
 in chases or iron frames preparatory to cast- 
 ing. Before going into the foundry, however, 
 another proof called a "planer" is taken, and 
 this is carefully gone over by a third reader. 
 After casting, still another proof is struck off 
 which is marked "plate," and this is sent to 
 the author for his final inspection and for veri- 
 fication as to the carrying out of his several 
 instructions. It is possible to make correc- 
 tions even at this time, but of course the ex- 
 pense of so doing is much greater than if 
 called for in the earlier proofs. Unfortunately, 
 even at this stage, new ideas not infrequently 
 suggest themselves to authors, and the latter 
 
Ube A>ahind of 3Boo1;s 
 
 251 
 
 are surprised to find the considerable cost of 
 incorporating these in the plates. 
 
 Many authors feel that the cost of these 
 alterations is something for which they should 
 not be held responsible, contending that all 
 such changes are designed to make a more 
 perfect book, in which result the author and 
 the publisher are equally interested. There is, 
 upon the surface, some justice in this view, 
 but it must be remembered that in accepting 
 the author's manuscript the publisher does so 
 with the understanding that the material is in 
 the condition in which the author desires it to 
 be printed. It is manifestly proper therefore 
 that any exceptional expense incurred in over- 
 coming errors and inconsistencies which the 
 author has permitted to appear in his copy 
 should be borne by him and not by the pub- 
 lisher. Any other course than this means, 
 with a large proportion of writers, the revision 
 of the material when the matter is in type, 
 instead of the proper preparation of the manu- 
 script. If the cost of such work were borne 
 by the publisher, the expense attaching to 
 much material would often make its publi- 
 cation a very unsatisfactory commercial ven- 
 ture. 
 
 In order that authors may have clearly be- 
 fore them the details of these extra corrections, 
 we subjoin, herewith, the following, bearing 
 upon the matter. 
 
 Cost of 
 £ttca 
 
 Cocceca 
 tfong 
 
252 
 
 Hutbors anD ipubltsbers 
 
 Cocrectfng 
 Vroof 
 
 We also present a page of text showing the 
 method of marking the proof and also a page 
 with the corrections properly made. In ad- 
 dition are given the signs and abbreviations 
 used in correcting proof. 
 
 CORRECTING PROOF. 
 
 All changes in proof, except such as are necessary to make 
 it conform to the " copy " or original manuscript, are " ex- 
 tra corrections." 
 
 The cost of these " extra corrections," a matter entirely 
 apart and distinct from any expense the publisher has agreed 
 to undertake in bringing out a book (or any estimate given 
 to the author, when the book is published on the author's 
 account), is charged to the author and payable by him as 
 soon as the volume is ready for publication. 
 
 When the matter is set up, the proof is read in the office 
 by a proof-reader and compared closely with the " copy," 
 the latter being read aloud to him for this comparison. All 
 differences are noted, and the proof is then returned to the 
 compositor, who is obliged to make the corrections at his 
 own expense. Then a proof is sent to the author. Upon 
 each batch of proof returned by the author, are noted such 
 changes as he has made differing fi-om original copy, and the 
 time taken to make the changes, recorded. From these 
 daily records is made up the account for " extra corrections " 
 that is rendered to the author on the completion of the work. 
 
 Authors are often surprised at the amount of this charge 
 and incredulous of its correctness, forgetting that they, of 
 course, take no special note of the little changes made fi-om 
 time to time, while these changes are recorded in the office 
 as they occur, and though petty, individually, in the aggre- 
 gate reach sometimes a very considerable amount. 
 
 It should be noted that if it were possible to make at one 
 time all the changes marked, the expense of such would be 
 materially reduced. This is not possible, however, as cor- 
 
Correctfng proof 
 
 253 
 
 rections have to be made from time to time, and tiiis requires 
 the additional handling of type, which necessarily increases 
 the expense. 
 
 It is frequently the case that changes in proof have to be 
 made in order to make it conform to " office rule," i. e., to 
 the accepted rules of orthography, punctuation, etc. The 
 compositor sets the matter just as it is written. If the 
 author has written " King" on page i and " king " on page 
 20; if he has in one instance written "fin de siecle" in 
 Roman, and in another put it or an analogous expression in 
 italics, fin de siecle, — ^the manuscript will be followed with 
 these inconsistencies, and it is the duty of the office proof- 
 reader to make the proof consistent, and to charge the cost 
 of such corrections to the author as " extra corrections." 
 
 " Extra corrections" may be avoided entirely or reduced 
 to a minimum, by greater care in the preparation and 
 
 REVISION OF MANUSCRIPTS BEFORE THEY ARE PLACED IN THE 
 
 printer's hands. If authors would subject their manuscripts 
 to the same scrutiny they give to proofs, and be reasonably 
 sure that what they have written has been put in just the form 
 they wash, as to expression, paragraphing, use of capitals, 
 punctuation, spelling, etc., they would save themselves the 
 annoyance and expense of these "extra corrections." 
 
 The cost of changes is least when made in first or "gal- 
 ley " proof, and most when in final or " plate " proof. One 
 of the changes an author is apt to make without thinking 
 how much labor it entails, is the insertion of a word or 
 phrase after the type is set ; this sometimes involves the re- 
 adjustment of scores of lines or several pages. 
 
 Authors should bear in mind that where typographical 
 enors are overiooked by them in the galley and page proof, 
 and are only discovered in the plate proof, the printer cannot 
 be held responsible for the cost of rectification of such errors 
 in the plates. 
 
 Coctectfng 
 I>toof 
 
IProof»rea&er's Corrections 
 
 GOTTFRIED WOLFGANGJ CJyOrCtAJiy 
 
 -/., 
 
 MTt.CaA^ Wolfgang arrived at Paris at the breaking out of 
 
 the^ volution. The popular delirium at first caught 
 
 his enthusiastic mind, and he was captivated by the 
 
 poUticaland philosophical^heories^f the Jay fbut (/ 
 
 the scenes of blood whic h foUowedjShocked his sensitive 
 
 ^/X nature, disgust edfsocietyviyitt y /ninO and the world, and 
 
 ' made him more than ever a recluse. He shut himself 
 
 ^CCbUL/UC/ up in a solitary apartment in the Pays Latin, the quarter 
 
 } of students. There/(\in a gloomy street not far from 
 
 Ci^ the I rom the monastic walls of the/orbonne. he pursued CoAf 
 ^ his favorite speculations. X 
 
 •"■^ SomQimes he spent hours together in the great 
 
 libraries of Paris, those catacombs of departed author^ 
 rummaging among their hordes of dusty and obsole^]^ 
 works in quest of food for his unhealthy appet ite. L - 
 He was, in a. manner, a literary ghoul, feeding in 
 / the chamelhouse of decayed literature, a Wolfgang, ^ ^ 
 I though jsolitaiy and recluse, was of an ardent Yem- (y,0. 
 ^ penunent, but for a time it operated merely upon his 
 •ff - imagination. He was toqshy and ignorant of the worldro n/j/yi^ fflrtA/ 
 make any advances to the fair, but he was a passionate pd-_ 
 mirer of female beauty, and in his. lonely chamber 
 would Often lose himself in reveries on forms and faces 
 which he had- seen, and his fancy would deck out 
 . images of loveliness far surpassing the reality. 
 O^^C^/ While his mind was in this excited and sublimated 
 state, a dream produced an extraordinary effect upon 
 Q^ him. , It was of a female face of transcendent beauty. 
 •^ So strong was the impression made, that be dreamt of 
 y /g/ - it a g a in and again. It haunted his thoughts by day, 
 his slumbers by night ; in fine, he became passionately 
 /i/OyyV. enamoured of this shadow of a dream. This lasted so 
 
 . long that it became one of those fixed ideas^f mpja n- _ OXCC^ '^^ 
 JicL. /^holy men, and are at times mistaken for maitnesST Cfffi'U 
 
 Such wias Gottfried Wolfgang, and such his situation at / 
 
 O /the time I mentioned. He was returning home late^ 
 
 254 ' 
 
 i- 
 
CorrectcD ©roof 
 
 GOTTFRIED WOLFGANG. 
 
 Wolfgang arrived at Paris at the breaking out of 
 the Revolution. The popular delirium at first caught 
 his enthusiastic mind, and he was captivated by the 
 political and philosophical theories of the day : but the 
 scenes of blood which followed, shocked his sensitive 
 nature, disgusted him with society and the world, and 
 made him more than ever a recluse. He shut himself 
 up in a solitary apartment in the Pays Latin, the quarter 
 of students. There, in a gloomy street not far from 
 the monastic walls of the Sorbonne, he pursued his 
 favorite speculations. Sometimes he spent hours 
 together in the great libraries of Paris, those cata- 
 combs of departed authors, rummaging among their 
 hordes of dusty and obsolete works in quest of food 
 for his unhealthy appetite. He was, in a manner, a 
 literary ghoul, feeding in the charnel-house of de- 
 cayed literature. 
 
 Wolfgang, though solitary and recluse, was of an 
 ardent temperament, but for a time it operated merely 
 upon his imagination. He was too shy and ignorant of 
 the world to make any advances to the fair, but he was a 
 passionate admirer of female beauty, and in his lonely 
 chamber would often lose himself in reveries on forms 
 and faces which he had seen, and his fancy would deck 
 out images of loveliness far surpassing the reality. 
 
 While his mind was in this excited and sublimated 
 state, a dream produced an extraordinary effect upon 
 him. It was of a female face of transcendent beauty. 
 So strong was the impression made, that he dreamt of 
 it again and again. It haunted his thoughts by day, 
 his slumbers by night ; in fine, he became passionately 
 enamoured of this shadow of a dream. This lasted so 
 long that it became one of those fixed ideas which 
 haunt the minds of melancholy men, and are at times 
 mistaken for madness. 
 
 Such was Gottfried Wolfgang, and such his situation at 
 the time I mentioned. He was returning home late one 
 
 255 
 
dorrectfons of tbe press 
 
 LIST OF SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS 
 USED IN CORRECTING PROOF. 
 
 9 
 
 D 
 
 ./\ 
 
 ^1 ary/ 
 
 X 
 
 H 
 
 c 
 
 Ic. 
 
 ^ 
 
 fr 
 9 
 
 cut-t-e- 
 
 (dele) Take away. 
 
 Turn an inverted letter. 
 
 Indent. 
 
 Directs that space be taken out. 
 
 Indicates more space between words or letters. 
 
 Indicates less space between words or letters. 
 
 Indicates broken or imperfect type. 
 
 Indicates a space or "quadrat" which improperly 
 appears. 
 
 Dots placed under words or letters erased indicate that 
 they are to be restored. Stet is placed in the 
 margin. 
 
 Make a new paragraph. 
 
 Indicates that a word or line is to be moved towards the 
 face of the bracket, whichever way turned. 
 
 (lower case) Directs that a letter or word printed in 
 capitals be made small. 
 
 Transpose letters or words. 
 
 (wrong font) Directs attention to a letter of a wrong 
 size or style. 
 
 Query as to spelling or use of language. 
 
 One line under letters or words indicates that they 
 should be changed from Roman to Italic or from 
 Italic to Roman as the case may be ; 
 
 two lines indicate small capitals ; 
 
 and three lines, capitals. 
 
 Words are wanting — see copy. 
 
 256 
 
TIbe /iDafting of Bootis 257 
 
 Electrotyping. — In America it is the rule to jsiectco. 
 make plates of nearly all books published. *'^'""' 
 This plan is followed because of the difficulty 
 of estimating, with any degree of accuracy, 
 the probable demand for the volume and of 
 gauging the size of the first edition by this de- 
 mand. In England, on the other hand, it is 
 much less usual to make plates. Instead, the 
 type is frequently kept standing for months, 
 perhaps years, and edition after edition is 
 struck off as these may be called for. 
 
 The advantage of the latter system consists 
 in the lessening of the expense of any revision 
 that may be desired in later editions. But in 
 this country, the cost of type is so much greater, 
 that in nine cases out of ten it is more econ- 
 omical to make plates at first. It may further 
 be said that, owing to the great improvement 
 in machinery in the United States, the cost of 
 this electrotyping is a much less serious factor 
 in bookmaking than is the case in England. 
 
 It is also true that these electrotype plates, 
 being much less bulky than the type, can be 
 handled and stored away more readily than is 
 the case with standing type. Such plates are 
 carefully placed in consecutive order in boxes 
 containing from forty-eight to ninety-six 
 plates each and are thus stored in vaults until 
 required for the press. 
 
 Presswork. — It would be useless in a sketch 
 like this to attempt a description of the evolu- 
 
2S8 
 
 Hutbors an5 publisbers 
 
 prcBawoti! tion of the modern press and the varieties of 
 printing machines now in use for bookwork. 
 From the days of Plantin, in Antwerp, with 
 his crude hand-press, the output of which was 
 but one or two hundred impressions an hour, 
 to the modern newspaper machine with a 
 capacity of twenty thousand copies per hour, 
 not only printed, but folded and ready for 
 delivery, is a long step, and the comparison 
 will convey some idea of the vast amount of 
 study which has been given by inventors to 
 the perfection of the modern press. 
 
 In comparing the presswork of the sixteenth 
 century with that of the close of the nineteenth, 
 it would be a satisfaction if we could point to 
 the same progress in the quality of work that 
 we find in the speed with which this work is 
 executed. Unfortunately, it must be admitted 
 that this is not uniformly the case. Not a 
 little satisfactory book-printing is produced by 
 the modern press, but it is, nevertheless, the 
 case that the demands made upon the printer 
 now for books which can be sold at a popular 
 price has a tendency to bring forth a quality 
 of presswork for which it is not always pos- 
 sible to express admiration. 
 
 For this state of things, moreover, it is not 
 just to charge the printer alone, for, from the 
 cause already mentioned, he is generally com- 
 pelled to work with poor paper made from 
 wood pulp, and with ink which is sadly lack- 
 
Zbc Rafting ot Boofts 
 
 259 
 
 ing in those qualities required for thoroughly 
 effective and permanent work. 
 
 It is with a feeling of relief that one turns 
 from some of the gray and muddy pages of 
 the present day, printed upon hard and stiff 
 " pulp paper," to the delightful old black-letter 
 volumes of two or three centuries since, with 
 their clear-cut, sharp type, struck with deep 
 black ink on hand-made paper of such stock 
 as admitted not only of a perfect impression, 
 but, in addition, presented a surface and a flexi- 
 bility delightful to the eye arid to the touch. 
 
 One is sometimes forced to the wish that 
 inventive genius had not gone quite so far, 
 but that it had contented itself with the slow- 
 running hand or Franklin press, that the 
 paper-makers had failed to discover that wood 
 might be used as a substitute for rags, and 
 lastly, but by no means least, that the ink 
 manufacturers had not been compelled to 
 cheapen their product and to manufacture an 
 ink lacking in so many of the brilliant and 
 lasting qualities of the early makers. 
 
 The use of wood pulp in the manufacture 
 of printing paper presents a serious outlook 
 for the lasting qualities of books made from 
 such paper. The utilization of this stock 
 makes possible a very low price for a paper 
 which often presents qualities fairly satisfac- 
 tory for use in fiction and other ephemeral 
 literature ; but any large percentage of wood 
 
 Quality of 
 papec 
 
26o 
 
 Butbors anb publisbers 
 
 platen anb 
 Csllniier 
 Pceeaeg 
 
 pulp, either mechanical or chemical, intro- 
 duced into the paper made for books of a 
 permanent character must be considered as a 
 serious menace to the lengthy existence of 
 such books. Such paper, in a very few years, 
 turns yellow when exposed to the light, and 
 in a very short time becomes brittle, and is 
 easily torn. We have in mind volumes which 
 have not been printed more than ten years, 
 and which from the stock used in the paper 
 present a very decayed and dilapidated appear- 
 ance. It is to be hoped that some simple means 
 may be discovered by which the paper may 
 be tested by the publisher or printer for the 
 percentage of this wood pulp, to the end that 
 only paper of a lasting quality may be used 
 in books of permanent literature. 
 
 Until a very recent date, the larger part of 
 book-printing was done on what is known as 
 the Adams or platen press, which is con- 
 structed on the principle of taking the im- 
 pression upon the entire sheet at once with 
 one upward movement of the bed and form. 
 This machine has now been almost entirely 
 superseded by the cylinder press of various 
 manufacturers, on which the impression is 
 taken on the sheet by the form passing to and 
 fro under a revolving cylinder which, of 
 course, touches but a segment of the form at 
 once. If the forms are properly "made ready," 
 the best possible results are attained on these 
 
XTbe /lDa{;ind ot £ooI;s 261 
 
 presses, while the speed is double or triple that aaung 
 of the old-fashioned platen or Adams press. *"*^ 
 
 Making Ready. — This is a most important 
 operation connected with good presswork, for 
 on its proper execution largely depends the 
 effective appearance of the printed sheet. It 
 is because of lack of care under this head that 
 there appear so many carelessly and badly 
 printed books. 
 
 The "make ready" for an ordinary volume 
 of plain text from good plates is a compara- 
 tively simple matter, but when it comes to 
 preparing the "overlays" for fine illustrated 
 work no little judgment and experience are 
 called for on the part of the pressman. For 
 however carefully the casting and finishing of 
 the plates may have been done, it is quite im- 
 possible to obtain a number of plates whose 
 face and thickness shall be absolutely true. 
 There will be depressions in some spots where 
 the face of the plate in printing scarcely touches 
 the paper, and similar elevations in other 
 places. The first impression on the sheet is, 
 therefore, more or less imperfect ; it is the 
 duty of the pressman to overcome these ir- 
 regularities by the aid of "overlays," and un- 
 til this has been done, the press is not permitted 
 to start the printing of the edition. 
 
 This process is a very nice one and it re- 
 quires, upon the part of the pressman, much 
 care and experience to do the work effectively. 
 
262 Hutbots and publisbecs 
 
 mmng Small pieces of very thin paper are cut with 
 iRea6s great care and pasted on the impression cylin- 
 der in the spots in which the pressure is too 
 light, and this serves to even up the irregulari- 
 ties in the face of the plate, resulting in a true 
 and perfect impression of the type. 
 
 When a form containing illustrations is to 
 be printed, the work of overlaying is much 
 more complex, and the expert pressman 
 should possess some artistic judgment in 
 order that the form may show effectively in 
 the printed sheet the design of the artist. Few 
 people, in examining a finely illustrated book, 
 realize the amount of time and care required 
 on the part of the pressman to produce such 
 results, and they would be surprised to see the 
 difference between the first impression of the 
 sheet and the same after the form is properly 
 made ready. 
 
 Indeed, no matter how effective the work 
 of the artist, if the pressman fails to understand 
 his business, the result cannot but be unsatis- 
 factory. 
 
 To make ready, properly, a form of sixteen 
 cuts may often require the labor of two or 
 three days on the part of the pressman, in 
 building up the "blacks," toning down the 
 "half tints," or cutting away the "high 
 lights " of the design. This work is done in 
 the same general way as already explained for 
 the text, but for illustrations the process is, of 
 
Ube ;flDa??ing of Boofts 
 
 263 
 
 course, a much more delicate one. Paper of 
 about the thickness of tissue is used in making 
 these overlays, and a form of cuts may often re- 
 quire hundreds of these small pieces of paper, 
 of every conceivable shape, which are pasted 
 upon the cylinder before the press can be 
 started. 
 
 Book-binding. 
 
 When the sheets come from the press and 
 are properly dried, they are usually subjected 
 to a heavy hydraulic pressure to remove the 
 rough surface produced by the indentation of 
 the type, and they are then ready for the 
 bindery. 
 
 Until recent years the folding of the sheets 
 was done by hand. Now it is very generally 
 accomplished by folding-machines which pro- 
 duce the best class of work at a very material 
 saving in cost over hand labor. These 
 machines take the large sheets as they come 
 from the press, containing say sixty-four 
 pages, cut these into four sections of sixteen 
 pages each, fold and deliver the "signatures," 
 as they are called, into different channels and 
 in proper condition for "gathering." Of 
 course, the whole edition of the first sheet is 
 thus folded before the second sheet is taken 
 in hand. It is thus that the volume proceeds 
 through the bindery, that is, each operation of 
 the many through which the book has to pass 
 
 ■SOOba 
 
 ffiinMng 
 
264 
 
 Hutbors and ipublisbcrs 
 
 Oatbering 
 
 an& 
 Cotlatfiifl 
 
 being practically completed before the next 
 detail is taken up, so that when the last 
 work of "casing in" is reached it is not 
 unusual to have the whole edition of the book 
 covered and put into the drying-press in one 
 day. 
 
 Authors frequently ask for the " first copy " 
 of their books, with the apparent understand- 
 ing that the manifold operations connected 
 with the binder's art are all performed by one 
 workman and that therefore there may exist 
 a considerable interval between the completion 
 of the first copy and the finishing of the 
 edition. As a matter of fact, as just pointed 
 out, there is no "first copy, "the whole edition 
 being completed at about the same time. 
 
 It would be futile in a volume of this de- 
 scription to attempt to describe in detail the 
 many complex operations required in trans- 
 forming the printed sheets into the completed 
 and bound book. Briefly stated, this work, 
 for ordinary " edition " or " case binding," is 
 divided into three divisions : (a) folding and 
 gathering the printed sheets, (b) forwarding, 
 (c) casing in. 
 
 The folding-machines, already referred to, 
 do their work with surprising rapidity and 
 accuracy, the sheets being fed into the machine 
 at the rate of two thousand per hour, and if 
 the adjustment is correct these sheets are 
 delivered with as correct " register " as could 
 
XLbe AaMna of Boofis 
 
 265 
 
 be accomplished by the old-fashioned hand 
 folding. These folded sheets are then taken 
 in hand by the " gatherers," who place them 
 on a table shaped like a horseshoe, the 
 different sheets being arranged in separate 
 piles and in consecutive order. The gatherer 
 then walks around the inside of this table 
 and deftly, and with great rapidity, " gathers " 
 the sheets by taking one from each pile. One 
 circuit of the table usually completes a book, 
 and before the gathered sheets are ready for 
 sewing, the folded sheets must be "collated," 
 that is, examined to see that the signatures 
 or sheets are in the right consecutive order 
 and that there are no duplicates and tio sheets 
 left out. 
 
 This examination would seem a slow and 
 tedious operation, but an expert girl can run 
 through a large number of sheets with sur- 
 prising rapidity and it is very rarely the case 
 that errors appear in an edition of a carefully 
 collated volume. 
 
 In magazine work, an ingenious contriv- 
 ance is used which greatly reduces the work 
 of collating the sheets. This consists in plac- 
 ing a mark or line on each sheet on the back 
 of the fold. This is done on the press when 
 the sheet is printed, and these marks or bands 
 are so arranged on each signature that when 
 the magazine sheets are properly collated, this 
 band will show on the back of each pamphlet 
 
 Oatbeting 
 
 an^ 
 Collating 
 
266 
 
 Hutbors an& publfsbers 
 
 forwat&a 
 
 ing anS 
 
 (Casing <n 
 
 ( before the cover is put on ) in an unbroken 
 diagonal line from end to end. Should any 
 error have been made in the gathering, either 
 by omitting a sheet or by duplicating one, the 
 blunder will show itself by a break in this 
 band. The work is thus very rapidly collated 
 and any imperfect copies thrown out for cor- 
 rection. 
 
 Now the collated sheets are "smashed," or 
 subjected to heavy pressure in an hydraulic 
 press, to give them the proper degree of solid- 
 ity, and they are then ready for sewing, an 
 operation which until recent years was done 
 by the slow hand process, but now is almost 
 always accomplished by the aid of a most 
 ingeniously constructed sewing - machine, 
 which not only turns out the work with 
 greatly increased speed, but which possesses 
 the further advantage of producing volumes 
 that will open more easily and more evenly 
 than was apt to be the case with former hand 
 sewing. 
 
 From this point, the book is now taken in 
 hand by the forwarding department and the 
 various operations through which it has to 
 pass are too technical to describe here in detail. 
 
 The edges of the books are trimmed ( unless 
 the volume is to be left "uncut"), then the 
 backs are glued to hold the sheets more se- 
 curely, and the end papers pasted on. The 
 volumes are then "rounded" to produce the 
 
Ubc /iDafting of Boofts 
 
 267 
 
 proper joint in which the cover fits and also to 
 make the curved back to the book. 
 
 The work is then practically ready for the 
 " caser in." These cases or cloth covers have 
 in the meantime been prepared in another de- 
 partment and, having been properly stamped 
 with the lettering either in gold or ink, are in 
 proper shape to put on the books now ready 
 for the final operation of the binding work. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that this descrip- 
 tion applies solely to that class of binding 
 known as "edition" or " case work," for the 
 operations of "extra" or "library" binding 
 require entirely different and much more elabo- 
 rate treatment. And here it may be in order 
 to say a word in regard to the difference 
 between American and foreign cloth binding. 
 In the latter it has never been considered 
 necessary to treat edition work as anything 
 more than a temporary covering for the book ; 
 hence, abroad, the cloth-bound books are lack- 
 ing in substantial sewing and in general 
 strength of structure. Here, on the other 
 hand, it is the intention to produce case work 
 so strongly and effectively put together that 
 the books may open well and at the same time 
 be so firmly bound as to stand all proper usage 
 and to remain as permanent coverings to the 
 volumes. Hence we sometimes hear the wish 
 expressed that American books would open 
 " more freely," as is the case with those made 
 
 ins ant 
 Caeino in 
 
268 
 
 Hutbors and ipubllsbers 
 
 Zitatment 
 of tbe 
 
 in England, and the fact is overlooked that 
 these volumes, which in this particular seem 
 so attractive when first examined, cannot com- 
 pare with the American production in lasting 
 qualities, but, because of their slighter sewing 
 and forwarding, are very apt to fall apart after 
 short usage, and to require rebinding. 
 
 The question as to whether a book should 
 be trimmed or untrimmed is one which is 
 largely dependent upon what its future use is 
 to be. If, as is the case with the majority of 
 American cloth-bound books, the volume is 
 considered to be in its permanent form, then 
 it is often more convenient and satisfactory to 
 have the edges trimmed. But when, as has 
 just been stated, the cloth case is looked upon 
 as merely a temporary covering to be replaced 
 later on by the special library binding of its 
 individual owner, then it is exceedingly de- 
 sirable to leave the edges entirely untrimmed 
 so that all the margin possible may be pre- 
 served for this rebinding. 
 
 Many readers, it is true, find the opening of 
 the uncut leaves somewhat of an onerous 
 task, but, on the other hand, it is a special 
 satisfaction to many who thoroughly appreci- 
 ate a new book to have the pleasure of cut- 
 ting the folds, with the feeling that no previous 
 reader has extracted any of the precious con- 
 tents from this particular volume. 
 
 What is, perhaps, the ideal treatment of the 
 
Ube /iDaliind of JSoofts 269 
 
 cloth-bound book, is to trim and gild the top, cowt 
 and leave the front and foot untouched by the ®*'"*"* 
 knife. This, while minimizing the reader's 
 labor of cutting, still preserves the margins for 
 possible rebinding, and, further, retains for 
 many book-lovers that indescribable charm of 
 freshness which is associated with the first 
 opening of a new book. 
 
 As to the outside cover of the well made 
 cloth-bound book, it may be said that there 
 has been a marked improvement in this di- 
 rection during the last few years. Not long 
 since it was the tendency to place on the cov- 
 ers elaborate, and often totally meaningless, 
 designs executed frequently in several colors 
 of ink. While this tendency to meretricious 
 ornamentation has not entirely disappeared 
 among bookmakers, it may, happily, be said 
 that there has been a decided gain in the di- 
 rection of simpler covers, and the better class 
 of new issues from the press appear with no 
 further embellishment than a plain "old- 
 style " lettering on the back and, possibly, 
 some small characteristic design on the side 
 in gold if the work be of a character which 
 will admit of some such distinctive treatment. 
 
 It will readily be appreciated even upon the 
 most superficial consideration of the many 
 operations going to make up the finished book, 
 that judgment and experience are needed to 
 produce a satisfactory result. For it is assur- 
 
270 Hutbors an& iPubUsbers 
 
 •ttbe edly a fact that we may often take up a vol- 
 »ac.e ""^^ *" which many of the mechanical details 
 Book have been well carried out, and yet the result 
 is far from pleasing to the reader who appreci- 
 ates a well constructed book. The type may 
 be good in itself, and yet the size too small or 
 too compact for pleasant reading, or type and 
 page may be all that can be desired, and yet 
 the result is entirely unsatisfactory, either be- 
 cause of the use of poor paper or because of 
 careless and gray presswork. 
 
 Then again, when these matters have all 
 been well planned, the book, as a whole, may 
 fall far short of being an ideal production, be- 
 cause the paper selected is either so thin as 
 to be transparent, or so thick as to be clumsy 
 and to make the volume unsatisfactory to 
 hold in the hand. When all these details 
 have been adjusted, the book may still fail of 
 being mechanically perfect, because of poor 
 judgment in the execution of the binding. 
 The sewing and backing may be too tight, so 
 that the volume will not open easily, or the 
 leaves may be so trimmed as to lack a correct 
 margin to the page. And, finally, when all 
 these points have been fully considered, the 
 result may not reach the proper standard 
 because the exterior of the book is unsuitable 
 or out of keeping with its contents, and how- 
 ever well executed may be the work on the 
 inside, if the selection of cover and the treat- 
 
Ube /lDal;ind of Boofis 
 
 271 
 
 ment of the same be not in harmony, the 
 result can never be entirely satisfactory. It 
 is, indeed, the harmonizing and adjusting of 
 all the manufacturing details which produces 
 the book that at least in its mechanical aspects 
 is delightful both to the eye and to the touch. 
 
 Library Bindings. — The foregoing remarks 
 apply more particularly to what is known as 
 " edition work," and it must be borne in mind 
 that artistic binding in the higher sense has to 
 do with the special treatment of the individual 
 volume as it is covered and embellished by 
 hand in the various leathers suitable for such 
 purposes. 
 
 The whole method pursued in the execution 
 of such binding — after the folding and collating 
 of the sheets — is entirely different from that 
 required in " case work." In the extra bind- 
 ing every operation has to be performed with 
 great care and the progress of the work is 
 necessarily very slow. The sewing is done 
 by hand, and with what is technically known 
 as "whip stitching," and the cover for the 
 volume, instead of being made as a separate 
 case and glued on to the book as in cloth 
 work, is cut from the leather and after the 
 boards are properly fitted to the special book 
 and fastened securely to the volume, these are 
 covered with the leather which has been pre- 
 viously pared where it is to turn on the edges. 
 The whole work of finishing and "tooling" 
 
 
272 
 
 Htttbors an& publisbers 
 
 Xfbrats 
 Sfn&tnge 
 
 the outside of the volume is done on the 
 covered book, and not, as in cloth binding, 
 by machinery on the detached case. 
 
 Sheepskin, cow-skin, calf, and morocco of 
 various grades are used for this library work, 
 the first two being as a rule, leather of Ameri- 
 can manufacture, while the best calfs and 
 moroccos come from abroad. Our highest 
 grade of levant morocco comes to us from 
 France. This is one of the most expensive of 
 book leathers, being made of goat skin and sub- 
 jected to a treatment which gives to the sur- 
 face of the leather a rich and heavy grain, and 
 this surface, when polished, produces by far 
 the most substantial and rich book covering. 
 
 The details of the work required in effective 
 library or "extra" binding are too complex 
 and technical to admit of a full description in 
 this manual. As before noted, each book is 
 treated individually, and the processes through 
 which it passes are very diverse and call for 
 much greater skill, good taste, and artistic 
 feeling on the part of the operator than is 
 demanded in edition work, as the latter is 
 mainly turned out by machinery. It may not 
 perhaps be amiss to describe these two styles 
 of binding as bearing somewhat of the same 
 relation to each other as the oil painting bears 
 to the chromo. The former shows the stamp 
 and individuality of the artist, while the latter 
 is, at the best, but a mechanical production. 
 
xrbe /IDafting ot Boohs 273 
 
 No one unfamiliar with the processes of the Ertta 
 " extra " departnnent in a bindery can realize *'""'"«« 
 how many operations are required before the 
 volume is ready for its owner. All the work 
 of sewing, rounding, beating, cutting the 
 boards and lacing the same, and covering, is 
 what may be called handicraft, but when it 
 comes to the proper "finishing" of the outside, 
 the work may be considered as an art, and as 
 such it calls for no small amount of artistic 
 judgment. 
 
 It must be remembered that even in the 
 ordinary half-calf or library binding, the orna- 
 mentations on the gilt back are stamped on 
 individually with hand tools, and when a full- 
 bound levant book is to be finished, it is 
 usually necessary to make a drawing of the 
 design planned for the side, and from this the 
 finisher works, slowly stamping on the leather 
 with very small tools the design planned for, 
 until he has copied in gold upon the side 
 of his volume the complete drawing before 
 him. 
 
 To be able to plan out a proper scheme for 
 such ornamentation which shall be in harmony 
 with the special character of the book in hand, 
 and to " tool it " to effective completion is, as 
 may be supposed, by no means a simple task, 
 and it must be confessed that the number of 
 successful "finishers" in the United States is 
 comparatively small. 
 
Soohs 
 
 274 Hutbors an6 publisbcrs 
 
 Dow to But let the covering of the volume be of the 
 DanMe ^^gg^ ^j^^j ^^^ finishing all that the most exact- 
 ing critic can demand, if the earlier and more 
 mechanical operations of forwarding have 
 not been duly attended to, the result cannot 
 fail of being unsatisfactory. The book should 
 be solid, it should (if properly handled) open 
 freely, and the cover boards should be abso- 
 lutely true and square. But now when we 
 have happily arrived at all these results, and, 
 moreover, have succeeded in producing an ex- 
 terior to the volume which is in keeping with 
 its character, and the tooling is artistically 
 executed, the whole result of our work may 
 be more or less futile if the book is not handled 
 carefully when it leaves the bindery. The late 
 William Matthews, than whom there is prob- 
 ably no higher authority in connection with 
 the proper binding of books, has pointed 
 out in his Modern Bookbinding the correct 
 method of handling the newly bound volume. 
 In writing this he evidently had a keen realiza- 
 tion of the ignorance shown by many other- 
 wise intelligent people in their use of finely 
 bound books. Mr. Matthews says : 
 
 "Never force the back of the book if it does 
 not yield to gentle opening. Rely upon it, 
 the back is too tightly or strongly lined. A 
 connoisseur many years ago, an excellent cus- 
 tomer of mine, who thought he knew per- 
 fectly how to handle books, came into my 
 
Ube A>aMnd of BooFta 
 
 27s 
 
 office where I had an expensive binding just 
 brought from the bindery ready to be sent 
 home. He, before my eyes, took hpld of the 
 volume, and, tightly holding the leaves in 
 each hand, instead of allov^'ing them free play, 
 violently opened it in the centre, and ex- 
 claimed, ' How beautifully your bindings 
 open ! ' I almost fainted. He had broken 
 the back of the volume, and it had to be re- 
 bound!" 
 
 Illustrations. 
 
 A volume might easily be devoted to the 
 subject of the designing, engraving, and print- 
 ing of book illustrations. In this manual, 
 however, we propose merely to touch, in a 
 very superficial manner, upon a few of the 
 methods employed in making such illustra- 
 tions. These may be mentioned as follows : 
 
 Steel-Plate Engraving and Printing. — For 
 the general purposes of book illustration this 
 method of embellishment is somewhat gone 
 to decay, and, except in connection with 
 portrait work, it is comparatively but little in 
 use at the present time. There are several 
 reasons for this, the principal of which is 
 doubtless the comparatively high cost. The 
 engraving, in the first place, is a very 
 slow and tedious piece of work, and a well 
 made portrait on steel may cost all the way 
 from one hundred to five hundred dollars. 
 Then the printing, being an operation done 
 
 SteeU 
 
 Vlate 
 
 Ensraving 
 
276 
 
 Hutbors an& pubUsbers 
 
 Etcbfngs 
 
 an& pboto* 
 
 gcavuccs 
 
 entirely by hand, is necessarily expensive and 
 is therefore not at all suitable for books of 
 which large editions are expected. The use 
 of steel-engraving for illustrating books of 
 ordinary character is now rarely practised. 
 
 Etchings and Photogravures. — In many 
 ways the etching is by far the most effective 
 method for book illustration. It presents the 
 design in exact accord with the artist's con- 
 ception, instead of having this reproduced by 
 means more or less mechanical. Moreover, 
 for many subjects, notably for portraits, it 
 shows the artist's work with a strength and 
 richness of coloring which can scarcely be 
 reached by any other method. For portrait 
 work, therefore, the etching is often most de- 
 sirable, though it is open to the same objection 
 as is the case with the steel plate and photo- 
 gravure, it being even more expensive to 
 print than either of these two processes. It is 
 also, unfortunately, the case that for portrait 
 work we have in this country very few effect- 
 ive etchers, the best examples of the art com- 
 ing to us from Paris. 
 
 The Photogravure plate bears a strong re- 
 semblance to the etching in certain particulars, 
 but, being a process largely mechanical, it fails 
 in producing the richness of the etched plate. 
 For the reproduction of photographs and of 
 paintings, the photogravure presents, however, 
 a very attractive result, although it is open to 
 
XLbc /iDaftf ng of 3Boofts 277 
 
 the same objection as is tlie case with all in- toooh. 
 taglio work — the current cost of production is "^"'^ 
 expensive, while the number of good impres- 
 sions which can be obtained from a plate is 
 not over three or four thousand. In fact, after 
 a thousand impressions there will often be a 
 marked deterioration in the character of the 
 print. It is certainly the case, however, that 
 very rich and beautiful effects may be pro- 
 duced in photogravure work from good photo- 
 graphic originals, especially in landscape ; and 
 when but a limited edition is planned for, 
 there is no method of illustration which pro- 
 duces more desirable results. 
 
 Wood-Cuts. — In many ways it is greatly to 
 be regretted that this method of book illustra- 
 tion, so universal fifteen or twenty years ago, 
 has so generally gone out of use, being replaced 
 by the much more mechanical process of 
 photo-engraving to be described farther on. 
 The art of the wood-engraver required the pos- 
 session of no small measure of artistic sensi- 
 bility as well as mechanical expertness in the 
 use of the graver. All the better known 
 wood-engravers treated their work with a dis- 
 tinct individuality which made its identity 
 evident to any one at all familiar with the sub- 
 ject, and yet they did not lose sight of the 
 importance of retaining the spirit of the artist's 
 design in the reproduction of his work. This 
 reproduction in the more or less hard lines of 
 
278 
 
 Hutbors and ipublfsbers 
 
 Wleotm 
 Cut* 
 
 wood-cutting necessarily had its limitations, 
 and to present in the engraving the artist's 
 conception in its true values was a work re- 
 quiring an art feeling as well as mechanical 
 technique. 
 
 It is only within comparatively recent years 
 that engravers have been able to use photo- 
 graphy to transfer upon the block the design 
 to be cut, and this has simplified the work of 
 the artist, because the drawing can now be 
 made large and thus treated more freely, and 
 it can then be reduced by photography to any 
 size in transferring it upon the block. The 
 writer can well remember when it was neces- 
 sary for the designer either to draw the picture 
 directly upon the block, or to place his large 
 design in the hands of a draughtsman to be re- 
 drawn on the wood before the engraver could 
 commence his work. Of course, this addi- 
 tional operation opened the way for much 
 criticism upon the part of the artist as to the 
 manner of treating his work, and the instances 
 were many in which the designer would claim 
 that the wood-cut as printed failed entirely to 
 show the character or the true values of his 
 original drawing. 
 
 As has been already suggested, but very 
 little wood-engraving now appears in the illus- 
 trations of the ordinary volume, and while the 
 methods of "process work" present much 
 that is attractive, notably from an economical 
 
Ube /lDa!!tng of Boolks 
 
 279 
 
 standpoint, it cannot be denied that in tlie 
 profusion of such illustrations now appearing 
 we must look in vain for many of the beauti- 
 ful effects shown in the past by the well 
 engraved wood-cut, with its strength and its 
 rich gradations of color, — results which, un- 
 fortunately, can be produced only at a cost of 
 from ten to twenty times that of the best 
 photo-engraving. 
 
 Photo-Engraving. — ^This method of illus- 
 tration is now used in, probably, nine-tenths 
 of the books published in the United States. 
 Speaking generally, it is divided into two 
 styles of work : {a) line plates, (b) half-tone 
 plates. In the former, the reproduction is 
 done entirely mechanically by photography, 
 and the subject is transferred to a metal plate, 
 which is then chemically treated and all the 
 face of the plate eaten away but the lines of 
 the design, which are left in relief. By this 
 process, the original may be reduced to any 
 size, and it may also be enlarged if this is de- 
 sired, but in such enlargement the character 
 of the design is likely to be somewhat weak- 
 ened. As before pointed out, the great ad- 
 vantage of this method is its cheapness, and 
 the fact that the plate is an absolute facsimile 
 of the original; moreover, the photo-engraved 
 plate being "type high " there is no difficulty 
 in printing it with the text of the book. It 
 must be borne in mind that the subject to be 
 
 Vbotos 
 Engcavins 
 
28o 
 
 autbors an& ipublfsbers 
 
 IPbOtOa 
 
 Engraving 
 
 reproduced by this method must be strictly 
 in "line" work. 
 
 If the picture to be reproduced is a wash 
 drawing, or perchance a photograph, the 
 "half-tone" method {b) must be employed. 
 In this, a screen of glass, upon which appear 
 lines or rules, is placed between the subject 
 and the camera. The closeness of the lines 
 varies, dependent upon the fineness of the print 
 desired, but, generally speaking, they are from 
 one hundred and twenty to one hundred and 
 forty to the inch. By the aid of these inter- 
 secting lines, the surface of the printing plate 
 is broken up, and a magnifying glass will 
 show the fine cross hatching in the print. 
 
 This plate is much finer than anything made 
 in line work, and if the original is good and 
 the plate carefully printed, the result is often 
 very delicate and rich. But because of the 
 fineness and shallowness of the plate, the 
 printing is much more expensive than is the 
 case with line work. Further, to obtain the 
 best results from these half-tone plates, it is 
 essential to use a paper of high surface and 
 soft texture. Hence we see so many illus- 
 trated books now printed upon what is known 
 as enamel-plated paper, which, while admit- 
 ting of a fine impression of the plate, is 
 nevertheless open to the objection of being 
 very trying to the eyes of the reader because 
 of its high or glossy surface. 
 
TLbc /iDaMng of 3Boofts 
 
 281 
 
 The Heliotype or Gelatine Process of illus- 
 tration is often used for plates of which there 
 are required but a limited number of copies. 
 Portraits, especially from photographs, made 
 in this way, are very effective for books of 
 limited editions, and are of comparatively 
 small cost. They present most nearly the 
 effect of the photograph, and for this reason 
 they are often preferred to half-tone plates, 
 especially in the case of portraits. It must 
 be borne in mind, however, that all illustra- 
 tions made by any of these methods, except 
 the wood-cut and the relief photo-engraving, 
 require separate printing, and this increases 
 the expense of both printing and binding. 
 
 There are, of course, many other forms of 
 illustrating, but few of these are appropriate 
 for use in connection with ordinary book- 
 work. Lithograph plates are sometimes re- 
 quired for maps, and also for such subjects as 
 require to be produced in color. The objec- 
 tion to this method of illustration is its cost in 
 the first preparation of the stone, and also in 
 the current cost of printing, and on this ground 
 the lithograph cannot be recommended for the 
 ordinary, moderate-priced volume. There are, 
 however, requirements which can only be met 
 by the use of printing on the stone, and these 
 arise particularly in connection with colored 
 medical plates and with similar technical 
 work, but it must be confessed that such 
 
 Deliotspe 
 
 Vtoctee 
 
28z 
 
 Hutbors and publisbers 
 
 tCbe 
 
 iKltotspe 
 
 process 
 
 plates are engraved and printed with much 
 greater delicacy and accuracy in Paris or in 
 Germany than can be accomplished in this 
 country. The lithographic work of the map 
 printers of Germany is also of a high degree 
 of excellence. As before noted, such illus- 
 trations are only suited to volumes which can 
 command a high retail price. 
 
irnSej 
 
 283 
 
 Adams press, see Printing-presses 
 
 Advertising, proportionate outlay for, 55 ^y methods of, 162 
 ff; by circulars 16'jff; cost of, \6%ff, 194; outlays, 
 ■73#/ division of outlay, 165 
 
 Agreements and estimates, 66 
 
 Aldus Manutius, 142 
 
 Arbitration in literary issues, 160^ 
 
 Art designs, definition of, ^w ff 
 
 Articles, in periodicals 89, ff; in Cyclopaedias, 94 ff 
 
 Author, The, 133, 158, 193 
 
 Author's proof, see under Proof 
 
 Authors, grievances of, 2, 37/ as a genus irritabile, ^ff; 
 as men of business, 12 ff; ventures of, in first books, 
 78 ff; ownership of plates and of copyright by, 79 
 ff; fi-eedom of action of, 89 ; rights of, in Cyclopaedia 
 contributions, 94 ff ; corrections of, 103 ff; obliga- 
 tions of, 105^, 149 ; delinquent, 1 13 ; unwise methods 
 of compensating, 117; the organization of, 119 ff'; 
 the interest of, in continued sales, i^iff; and pub- 
 lishers, the personal relations of, 142 ff; publishing 
 undertakings of, 158 
 
 Authors' Associations, 155^ 
 
 Authors' Society, cost of publishing books as estimated by 
 the, 190; statistics presented by the, 193 
 
 Autocrat of the Breakfast-table, 144 
 
 Vnter 
 
284 
 
 Hutbors an& ©ublisbers 
 
 Unset Ballantyne, 9 
 
 Beginners in literature, 33 ff 
 
 Besant, Sir Walter, 3, 38, 148 
 
 Boards of Arbitration, 160^ 
 
 Bookbinding, process of, id'iff; folding machines, 26^ ff; 
 gathering and collating of sheets, 265 _^y hand and 
 machine sewing, 266 ; forwarding and casing in, 266 
 ff; "edition" or "case work," 26-] ff; "extra" or 
 "library work," 267 ; difference between American 
 and foreign cloth binding, 267 ; treatment of the edges 
 of the leaves, 268_^/ library bindings, 271 Jfy leathers 
 used in, 272 ; cover designs, 269^, 273 ; " tooling," 
 272, 273 
 
 Book-buying public, the, 1 52 ff 
 
 Book-manufacturing, the cost of, 60, 192 ; mechanical oper- 
 ations of, 235 ff 
 
 Books, the percentage of failures of, 29 ff; as a literary 
 property, B6 ff, 129 ; the value of, diminished through 
 scattering, 84 ff, 87 ff; in sets, 86, 139 ; in series, 
 \oiff; the distribution of, 178; sent on sale, 179 
 ff; the over-printing of, \<)'] ff; selling price of Ameri- 
 can, in Great Britain, 232 ; estimates of manufacturing 
 costs of, 237 ; dimensions of, 237^/ how to handle, 
 274 
 
 Bookselling methods, 75 ff 
 
 British Society of Authors, 133 
 
 Brown, James, 21 
 
 Bungay and Bacon, 6 
 
 Campbell, Thomas, the famous toast of, 2 
 
 Capital for publishing undertakings, inducements for, 71 ff 
 
 Catalogues, and book lists, 163 ; and circulars, distribution 
 
 of, 164 
 Children's books, royalties on, 52 
 Cicero and Atticus, 3 
 Circulars, use of, in advertising, 165 ff 
 Qassification, the, of books for royalties, ^()ff 
 
Cloth-binding, ue under Boolcbinding 
 Commission on sales as compensation for the publisher, 70 
 Compositors, duties of the, 2^6 ff 
 Consignment accounts, 1 79 ff 
 Constable, Archibald, 8 ff; the Memoirs of, 8 
 Contracts, difficulties in enforcing, against authors, 118^ 
 Copyright, the purchase of, 39 ; objections to purchase of, 
 41 ; the ownership of, 49 ; in Cyclopaedia material, 94 
 ff; regulations for securing, in the United States, 20^ ff., 
 208,212,213, 215, z\t ff., 218, 221, 227 ^.,230; 
 regulations for securing, in United States, for works of 
 foreign authors, 212, 2\jff., 216, 218 ^., 222 ; regu- 
 lations for securing, in Great Britain, 228^/ for articles 
 in periodicals 91 ff., 215 ; in foreign periodicals, 222 
 ff; the protection secured by, 93, 205 ff., 222 ff., 
 229 ff; term of, in the United States, 204, 214 jf, 
 218 ; application for renewal of, 2\^ff; for new edi- 
 tions, and separate volumes of sets, 208, 212; infringe- 
 ment of, 208, 230 ff; penalties for infringement of, 
 208, 209 ff., 214 ; for works of art, 21 1 ff., 215 ff., 
 226 ; for music, 227 ; arrangements for, made by pub- 
 lishers, 227, 228, 231^ 
 Copyright entries, regulations for notice of, 204, 207, 223 ; 
 certificates of, 206 ff., 213, 215, 227; fees for, in 
 United States, 207, 213, 222 
 Copyright Law in the United States, text of, 203-212 ; 
 Law of 1891, analysis of, 2\-]ff; the Sherman amend- 
 ment, 224^ 
 Copyright relations of the United States with foreign States, 
 
 217 
 Courts of Arbitration, 160^ 
 Criticisms of publishers, 202 
 Curtis, Geo. Wm., on publishers and editors, \^ff 
 Cyclopaedias, articles in, 94^ 
 Cylinder press, see Printing-presses 
 
 Designs for book covers, see Bookbinding 
 
 irnftet 
 
286 
 
 Hutbots and fl^ubltsbers 
 
 Inter Dictionary of National "Biography, 95 
 Discounts to the trade, 75 ff 
 Distribution of new books, the, 196 
 
 Edition or case work, see Bookbinding 
 
 Educational books, royalties on, 5 1 
 
 Electrotype plates, relative cost of, and standing type, 357 
 
 Elzevir, Louis, 142 
 
 English Men of Letters Series, 40, 108 
 
 Erasmus, 142 
 
 Estienne, Robert, 142 
 
 Estimates and agreements, 66, Tjff 
 
 Etching, desirability of, for book illustration, 276 ; cost of, 
 276 
 
 Extra corrections, 103 ff; how to avoid the necessity for, 
 248, 252 ; cost of, 251, 253 ; time requisite for making, 
 252 ; equity of author's bearing the expense of, 25 1 ff 
 
 Expenses of publishing, 6\ ff 
 
 " Fallibility" in book manufacturing, 198; in publishing, 
 
 Farrar's Life of Christ, 42 
 
 Fiction in paper covers, 55 ; in serial form, 90, wj ff; as 
 
 property, 134 ; not the whole of literature, 134 
 Fields, James T., 22, 143 
 
 First books, 83, 134^; author's ventures in, 78^ 
 Forwarding and casing in, see Bookbinding 
 Franklin press, see Printing-presses 
 Friendship and business, 150 
 Froben, of Basel, 142 
 Fumivall, F. J., 24 
 
 Grub Street, 6 
 
 Half-profit system, the, '^1 ff; objections to, 59^ 
 
 Half-tone plates, see Photo-engraving 
 
 Hare, Archdeacon, 23 ; Guesses at Truth, by, 23 
 
Heliotype, or Gelatine Process, 281 ff 
 Heroes of the Nations Series, 40, 108 
 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, the relations of, with his publish- 
 ers, 143 
 Horace, and his publishers, 3 
 Howe, George, 21 
 
 Howells, W. D., on the business relations of authors, \2ff 
 Hughes, Thomas, on Daniel Macmillan, \^ff 
 
 Ideal publishing arrangement, the, 150 
 
 Illustrations, 275-281 ; steel-plate engraving and printing, 275 
 ff; etching, 276 ; photogravure, 276 ff; wood-cuts, 
 277 jf; economy of "process work," 278, 279 ; photo- 
 engraving, 279^; heliotype or gelatine process, 281 
 
 Ink, quality of modern, 258^ 
 
 Insurance on authors' property, 79 
 
 International Science Series, 40, 108 
 
 Interview of author with publisher, 30 
 
 Irving, Washington, \off, 79, 175 ; and his American pub- 
 lisher, 16 ; letter of, to George P. Putnam, 25 ; The 
 Sketch Book of, 79 
 
 "Joint Account," publishing for the, 65 
 Joint interest of author and publisher, 100^ 
 
 Koberger, of Nuremberg, 142 
 
 Leather-binding, see under Bookbinding 
 
 Lessing, and his publishing association, 155 
 
 Libraries, catalogues for the, 164 
 
 Library work, see Bookbinding 
 
 Line plates, see Photo-engraving 
 
 Literary agent, the, i24ir, i34#; certain disadvantages in 
 the work of, 128 /"; business interest of, 132 ; and 
 young authors, 136 ff; commission of, 139 ; as a 
 possible publisher, 140 ; qualifications of, 141 ; sug- 
 gestions of, 151 
 
 InSei 
 
288 
 
 Butbors and iPublisbers 
 
 1In6ei; Literary board of arbitration, plan for the organization of, 
 
 121^ 
 
 Literary brolterage, 137 
 Literary courts, 121, 201 
 Literary delinquencies, instances of, 113^ 
 Literary labor not rewarded in proportion to its extent, 185 
 Literary material, the commercial value of, i6ff 
 Literary producers, the earnings of, ?> ff 
 Literary production, centres of, in the United States, 31 
 Literary workers, suggestions for, ^6ff 
 Literature, the market value of, 7 ff 
 Lithograph plates, 281 ff ; expense of, 281 
 Little, Brown, & Co., 2t 
 Lockhart's Life of Scott, 8 
 Longmans, the House of, 23, 143 
 
 Losses, division of, 64; through delays, 106 ff; and prof- 
 its, 190 
 
 Macmillan, Daniel, 19 ff; the Memoirs of, 23 ff; the 
 House of, 24, 143 
 
 Magazines, publishing methods of, 91 ^ 
 
 iVlaking ready, see Presswork 
 
 Manufacturing commissions, 64 
 
 Manufacturing estimates, 75 ff 
 
 Manuscript, examination of the, 26 ff, 32 ; preparation of, 
 for the press, 235 ff; number of words in a, 236 ; in 
 the hands of the compositors, 246 ; necessity for care- 
 ful revision of, by author, ^^ff, 253 
 
 Martial and his publishers, 2 
 
 Matthews, William, on handling of books, 274^ 
 
 Morse, John T., on the publishing relations of Holmes, 143 
 
 Murray, John, the Memoirs of, 9ff; and his authors, 10 ; 
 the House of, 23^ 
 
 Murray, John (the 2d), 79, 142 ; as a counsellor, 145 
 
 Musurus, 142 
 
 Napoleon, orders a publisher to be shot, 2 
 New authors, speculation in, 84,^ 
 
IFn&es 289 
 
 New York, the Authors' Association of, 156 UnBej 
 
 News stands, as selling machinery, 181 _^ 
 Novels, in cheap forms, royalties on, 54 ; cost of produc- 
 tion of, 55 ; prices of, 55 
 
 Obligations, under the publishing agreement 98^/ of the 
 
 author, 98^ 
 OiBce proof, see under Proof 
 On sale accounts, 179^ 
 Overlays, see Presswork 
 
 Page, appearance of the, changed by " leads,'' 238 ^y 
 what constitutes a well-proportioned, 244 ; use of cap- 
 tions, side notes, folios, etc., on the, 244^ 
 
 Pages, specimen, showing different styles of type, 240^243 ; 
 specimen, showing corrections, 254 ^ 
 
 Palm, Johann Philipp, shot by order of Napoleon, 2 
 
 Paper, use of wood pulp in manufacture of, 258 J^ 
 
 Paris Authors' Association, the, 156 
 
 Pendennis and his poems, 6 
 
 Periodicals, arrangements with, 90 ^y selection of, for ad- 
 vertising, i69_^ 
 
 Perkins, Frederick B., on publishers, 18 
 
 Permanency of tenure, 1 5 1 
 
 Personal relations of authors and publishers, 142 ^ 
 
 Perthes, 142 
 
 Photo-engraving, 279 _f; advantage of this process, 279 ; 
 use of line-plates in, 279 ; use of half-tone plates, 279 
 ^y use of enamel-plated paper in half-tone plates, 280 
 
 Photogravure, results of, 276/"/ objections to, 277 
 
 Plantin, of Antwerp, 142, 258 
 
 Posters, 166 jf 
 
 Presswork, ancient and modern compared, 258 ; making 
 ready an important operation in good, 261 J^y prepa- 
 ration of overlays, 261 _^ 
 
 Printing, the cost of, 192 
 
290 
 
 Hutbors an& ipublfsbers 
 
 Infter Printing-presses, comparison of ancient and modem, 258^/ 
 Franklin press, 259 ; Adams or platen press, 260; 
 Cylinder press, 260 
 
 Process work, 279-282 
 
 Professional advisers, 65 
 
 Professor at the Breakfast Table, the, 144 
 
 Profits, division of, between author and publisher, 47 ff, 
 64 ff, 68, 231 ff; "secret," 65; of literary work, 
 185 ; and losses, 190 
 
 Proof, first or office, 247 ; second or author's, 247 ff; 
 " planer " and plate, 250 ; information concerning cor- 
 recting, 252 _^/ signs used in correcting, 256 
 
 Proof-reader, duties of the, 247, 250, 252 ; corrections of 
 the, 254 
 
 Publications "for the account of the author," 74^ 
 
 Publisher, the search for the, 28 
 
 Publishers, the sins of, 1 ffy and their clients, the record 
 of, 6 ; the Memoirs of, 1 1 ffy a motto for, 25 ; office 
 hours of, 63 ; literary circle of, 145 ; not objectors to 
 Authors' Publishing Associations, 159 
 
 Publishing arrangements, the basis of, 38 ; the different 
 methods of, 39^, 80^/ for "joint account," 65; 
 usual terms of agreements under, 74 ; summary of, 82 ; 
 good faith in, 116 ff/ necessity for formal contracts 
 in, 147 
 
 Publishing calculations, 102^ 
 
 Publishing capital, inducements for, 71 ff,- the mainten- 
 ance of, 188/' 
 
 Publishing centres in the United States, 3 1 
 
 Publishing connections and imprints, value of, for the 
 author, 66, 69, 70, 183, 184 
 
 Publishing office, routine of work in the, 62 
 
 Publishing outlays, 77^ 
 
 Publishing relations, changes in the condition of, 1 20 ; pre- 
 cision in, 147 ; records at the disposal of the author, 
 
 '33 
 Publishing service, the value of, 73, 175^ 
 
irnSes 
 
 291 
 
 Publishing undertakings, the basis of, 101 ; the risk in, 3 
 ff, 135 #/ the cost of, 191, 194 ^y "fallibility" in, 
 ■98 if 
 Putnam, George P., 11, 19, 143, 175; and Washington 
 
 Irving, 145 
 Tutnam's Monthly, 91 
 
 " Readers " of manuscript, 31 
 
 Record of sales, at the disposal of the author, 153 
 
 " Remainders," the cost of, 196^ 
 
 Reuchlin, 142 
 
 Reviews, use of, for advertising, 166, 171 ; proper function 
 
 of, 1 72 ; the service of, 1 76 
 Reviewers, personal relations with, 1 77 
 Risks in publishing, 135^187 
 Royalty System, the, 44^ 
 
 Royalty, books excepted fi-om, 56 ; commutation of, 56 
 Ruskin, John, 73 
 
 Vn&er 
 
 Sales of books, 152 
 
 Salesmen, the cost of, 195 ; travelling expenses of, 195 
 
 Scientific author, the case of a, 96, 97 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 8^; and Constable, 146 
 
 Show-bills, 166 
 
 Smith and Elder, 6 
 
 Society of Authors of London, 157 
 
 Sosii, the, publishers for Horace, 2 
 
 Speculation, in copjnights, 43 ; in new authors, 84 ^y in 
 
 literary ventures, 134^ 
 Steel-engraving and printing, a slow process, 275 ; cost of, 
 
 275^ 
 Storj' of the Nations Series, 40, 108 
 Subscription books, royalties on, 53 ff 
 Syndicating agencies, g^ ; an-angements, g^, \2(> ff 
 
 Thackeray and his publishers, 6 
 Ticknor and Fields, 22 
 
292 
 
 Hutbors anO puWisbers 
 
 Inict Tooling, see Bookbinding 
 
 Type, sizes of, most frequently used, 238 ; specimen of Pica, 
 240 ; specimen of Small Pica, 241 ; specimen of Long 
 Primer, 242 ; specimen of Brevier, 243 ; standard of 
 measure in setting, 245 ; cost of standing, and electro- 
 type plates, 257 
 
 Uniform Editions, desirability of, 86 
 
 Ward, Julius H., on the publisher's vocation, 19^ 
 Wood-cuts, limitations in reproduction of, 277 J^/ individ- 
 uality of treatment in, 277 ; use of photography in, 
 278 ; beautiful effects in, 277, 279 
 
 Youmans, Edward L., 40 
 
 Young writers and their first undertakings, 88 
 
Boofts tor Hutbors 
 
 Authors and Publishers 
 
 A MANUAL OF SUGGESTIONS FOR BEGINNERS 
 IN LITERATURE 
 
 Comprising a description of publishing me- 
 thods and arrangements, directions for the 
 preparation of MSS. for the press, explana- 
 tions of the details of book-manufacturing, 
 instructions for proof-reading, specimens of 
 typography, the text of the United States 
 Copyright Law, and information concerning 
 International Copyrights, together with 
 general hints for authors. By G. H. P. and 
 J. B. P. 
 
 Seventh Edition, re-written with additional material. 8°, 
 
 gilt top St.75 
 
 CHIEF CONTENTS 
 
 Part I. — Publishing arrangements — Books published at 
 the risk and expense of the publisher— Books published for 
 the account of the author, i. e., at the author's risk and 
 expense, or in which he assumes a portion of the invest- 
 ment — Publishing arrangements for productions first printed 
 in periodicals or cyclopaedias— The literary agent— Authors' 
 associations — Advertising — On securing copyright. 
 
 Part II.— The IWaking of Books— Composition— Electro- 
 typing — Pressvjrork — Bookbinding — Illustrations. 
 
 " Full of valuable information for authors and writers ... A 
 most instructive and excellent manual."— George Wm. Curtis in 
 Harper's Magazine, . , , , . , 
 
 " This handy and useful book is wntten with perfect fairness and 
 abounds in hints which writers will do well to ' make a note of 
 . . . There is a host of other matters treated succmctly and lucidly 
 which it behoves beginners in literature to know, and we can recom- 
 mend it most lieartify to them."— Z«ii*'« Spectator, 
 
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JBoofts for Hutbors 
 
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 ani Ubdt 
 public in 
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 AUTHORS AND THEIR 
 PUBLIC IN ANCIENT 
 TIMES :::::: 
 
 A Sketch of Literary Conditions and of the 
 Relations with the Public of Literary Pro- 
 ducers, from the Earliest Times to the Fall 
 of the Roman Empire. 
 
 By GEO. HAVEN PUTNAM, A.M. 
 
 Third Edition, revised. 12°, gilt top. 
 
 ^1.50 
 
 " The Knickerbocker Press appears almost at its best in the deli- 
 cately simple and yet attractive form which it has given to this work 
 wherein the chief of a celebrated publishing house sketches the 
 gradual evolution of the idea of literary property, . , . The book 
 abounds in informatdon,is written in a delightfully succinct and agree- 
 able manner^ with apt comparisons that are often humorous, and with 
 scrupulous exactness to statement, and without a sign of partiality 
 either from an author's or a publisher's point of view." — New York 
 Times. 
 
 " A most instructive book for the thoughtful and curious reader. 
 . . The author's account of the literary development of Greece 
 is evidence of careful investigadon and of scholarly judgment. Mr. 
 Putnam writes in a way to instruct a scholar and to interest the 
 general reader. He has been exceptionally successful in describing 
 the progress of letters, the peculiar environment of those who are in- 
 terested in the career of the dramatist and the philosopher, and that 
 habit of mind characteristic of Hellenic 'M^."—Philadelpkia Press. 
 
 "The work shows broad cultivation, careful scholarly research, and 
 original thought. The style is simple and straightforward, and the 
 volume is both attractive and valuable."— i?rVA««o»rf Times. 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and Lokdon 
 
Boofts fot Hutbors 
 
 Books and Their Makers 
 During the Middle Ages 
 
 A Study of the Conditions of the Production 
 and Distribution of Literature from the Fall 
 of the Roman Empire to the Close of the 
 Seventeenth Century. 
 
 " By GEO. HAVEN PUTNAM, A.M. 
 
 Two volumes. 8°, gilt tops, each 
 
 $2.50 
 
 CHIEF CONTENTS 
 
 Volume I. 476-1600 
 
 Part I. — Books in Manuscript — The Making of Books in 
 the Monasteries — Some Libraries of the Manuscript Period — 
 The Making of Books in the Eariy Universities— Book-Trade 
 in the Manuscript Period. 
 
 Part II. — The Earlier Printed Books — The Renaissance 
 as the Forerunner of the Printing-Press — The Invention of 
 Printing and the Work of the First Printers of Holland and 
 Germany— The Printer-Pftblishers of Italy. 
 
 Volume II. i^oo-iyop 
 
 The Printer-Publishers of France — The Later Estiennes 
 and Casaubon— Caxton and the Introduction of Printing 
 into England — ^The Kobergers of Nuremberg — Froben of 
 Basel — Erasmus and his Books — Luther as an Author — 
 Plantin of Antvirerp- The Elzevirs of Leyden and Amster- 
 dam — Italy : Privileges and Censorship— Germany : Privi- 
 leges and Book-Trade Regulations— France : Privileges and 
 Censorship, and Legislation— England : Privileges, Censor- 
 ship, and Legislation. Conclusion : The Development of 
 the Conception of Literary Property. 
 
 Xootis an» 
 
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 ilDalierg 
 
 H)urfng tbe 
 
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 ages 
 
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 tion of 
 
 The Question of Copyright 
 
 Comprising the text of the Copyright Law of 
 the United States, and a summary of the 
 Copyright laws at present in force in the 
 chief countries of the world ; together with 
 a report of the legislation now pending in 
 Great Britain, a sketch of the contest in the 
 United States, 1 837-1 891, in behalf of Inter- 
 national Copyright, and certain papers on 
 the development of the conception of lit- 
 erary property and on the results of the 
 American law of 189 1. 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 GEO. HAVEN PUTNAM, A.M., 
 
 Secretary of the American Publishers' Copyright League. 
 
 Second Edition, revised, with additions, and with the re- 
 cord of legislation brought down to March i8p6. Octavo, 
 gilt top S1.7S 
 
 CHIEF CONTENTS 
 The law of Copyright in the U.S. in force July i , 1895— 
 Directions for securirig Copyright — Countries with which 
 the U. S. is now in Copyright relations — Amendments to 
 the Copyright Act since July 1, 1891 — History of the con- 
 test for International Copyright — Analysis of the provisions 
 of the Act of 1891 — Summary of the International Copy- 
 right cases and decisions since the Act of 1891 — Abstract of 
 the Copyright laws of Great Britain, with a digest of the 
 same by Sir James Stephen — The IVlonI<swell Copyright bill 
 of 1890, with an analysis by Sir Frederick Pollock — The 
 Beme Convention of 1887 — Literary Property : an historical 
 sketch— Statutory Copyright in England, by R. R. Bowker 
 — Cheap Books and Good Books by Brander Matthews — 
 Copyright and the prices of Books — Summary of the exist- 
 ing Copyright laws of the worid (March, i896)^The status 
 of Canada m regard to Copyright, January, 1896. 
 
 " A perfect arsenal of facts and arguments, carefully elaborated and 
 very effectively presented. . , . Altogether it constitutes an ex- 
 tremely valuable history of the development of a very intricate right 
 of property, and it is as interesting as it is valuable," — iV. K. Naiiolh 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London 
 
t . 
 

 1899 
 
 fvE 2 1900 \ 
 JUN 2119'"'^